


Athenaeum

by Jonn_Wolfe



Series: Rose River Alternate Universe [5]
Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-28
Updated: 2014-12-28
Packaged: 2018-03-04 00:17:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 32,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2900618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jonn_Wolfe/pseuds/Jonn_Wolfe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor was told that someone very dear to him is still alive. He, Rose and his clone go to find her and are caught up in a political quagmire of racism, genocide, and galactic court.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Athenaeum

## *Chapter 1*: Endings and Beginnings

* * *

The TARDIS was in a low orbit of San Helios. Inside, John was typing at the main keyboard at a furious pace. Rose had tried finding her husband a few hours ago, but the TARDIS told her that he still needed some time alone. She was busy trying not to fret over things, and had settled on the jump seat to think.

For the past hour, the TARDIS has been scanning the planet below, as well as doing a thorough biomolecular scan of the single manta shark that was still in stasis. There was a small ding, and John flipped a few switches. "Right. That should do it. The old girl has pretty much everything in the way of scans. Now to return the one we've got, and redirect the rift their generating."

"Wha', they're still at it?" Rose said, pulled out of her thoughts for a moment.

John nodded. "That's part of their life cycle. Reminds me of locusts, to be honest, going from planet to planet and eating everything they can." He bent down closer to the monitor and typed some more, squinting.

Rose got up from her perch on the jump seat and stood next to him, concerned. "But, what's to stop them from finding another place with people?"

John glanced at her. "Us, actually. The two that took down the Tritovore ship were placed in a sort of hibernation from the cold. Going to let them get a taste of Uriellia Two air."

When he didn't elaborate, Rose pursed her lips. "Okay, I'll bite. Where's that?"

John raised his eyebrows. "Oh... Sorry. I keep forgetting that you haven't been through the academy. Uriellia is a brown dwarf star that has three regular planets and a gas giant. Uriellia Two is in a near permanent ice age. Temperatures are around twenty to forty degrees below freezing. Should knock them all out for a while. No sense in sending them anywhere else, or we'd have to keep redirecting them to non civilized worlds."

Rose nodded at the logic. "But, isn't that the same as killing them all?"

John shook his head, finished his commands for the redirection, then pulled up a bio scan of the one that was in their hold. "Take a look." Hitting a few more keys, the DNA of the thing popped up. "Sequences all through their coding, here, here, and here," he pointed, "have markers on them. Which means they've been genetically engineered. In other words..."

"Some one made them?" Rose finished for him. John grinned and nodded at her. "Wha', so they're like a hydrogen bomb?"

"Essentially. I've some suspicions as to who did it, but I need Brother's input." John ran a hand through his hair. "At least now that they're going to be put in cold storage, we can put that on pause for a while. Mind zapping the one we got back down there?"

Rose didn't know how to take that. Having seen all sorts of craziness in the universe, the possibility of someone making a swarm of eating machines wasn't that far out there. "No wonder he went mental," she muttered.

John looked at her, slightly confused. "How's that?"

"Rift wormholes that act natural and artificial at the same time?" She shook her head. "Worrying about you and all of that not making sense. He dropped the F-Bomb, and nearly caused Jack and Martha to have an accidental loo moment."

John's eyes became round. He had no idea that happened, and the thought scared him a little as well. Still though, the thought that the Doctor was worrying over him chuffed him a bit - especially since he was going to be left in another universe at first, just to be rid of him.

Rose shook out of her thoughts and rounded the console. Setting the controls, she transmatted their 'guest' back down to the planet, and even managed to put it back inside the swarm itself.

John grinned. "One of these days, you're going to have to tell me just how much she's been teaching you." He got a smirk out of her with that. "Now, let's dilate the time differential and make sure they all get to Uriella."

Tapping a few keys, the planet on the monitor seemed to rotate faster. They watched as another wormhole opened up. He hit a key, and the vector for the destination changed. Another few minutes, and the swarm was gone. "There," John said. "Sorted." He leaned and stretched his back out. "Oi. Think it's past time for a bit of a kip. You going to be all right?"

Rose nodded. "Yeah. Going to go check on the Doctor."

* * *

The Doctor had been sitting in the same lotus position for the better part of a day. The room he was in was similar to the zero room, only in reverse. Instead of nullifying the input from the universe, this room enhanced it. The sound of the door opening caused his ear to twitch, but he didn't otherwise react. There was a slight indentation on the cushion he was sitting on, and he felt his wife press her back up against his. _'Hello,'_ he said mentally.

Rose had mirrored his position on the floor, and leaned against him. _'Feeling any better?'_

_'Not really, but I'm over the shock at least,'_ he replied.

Rose had closed her eyes, and was grimacing. _'Why is it so loud in here?'_

_'This room acts as the eyes and ears of the TARDIS. It's how she can navigate time and space. Was hoping it would help me find her, but I haven't had that much success.'_ He sounded a bit despondent.

_'I don't see how you can do anything in here. It's worse than a rock concert.'_

"Mmm," he mused. _'Well, the idea was to search her timeline out, and trace it.'_

She thought about that for a minute, then stood up. Stepping around him, she held her hand out. "Come on. I've got an idea." He opened his eyes blinking, and gave her a curious expression. "Come on, husband. Trust me," she smiled.

The Doctor let her help him up, and followed behind hand in hand. She led him through the corridors, and he didn't cotton on as to what she had in mind until they were at their bedroom door. "I hardly think this is the right time for..."

She put a finger to his lips. "Trust me?" He frowned and nodded, then let her lead him inside. Helping him out of his jacket and trainers, Rose had him lie on top of the covers and get comfortable with the pillows. She pulled a chair over and sat next to the bed.

"You want to find her time line, right?" She got a nod. "Then close your eyes and go backwards over yours until you find hers, then trace hers forward."

He had just closed his eyes, but they popped open again. "I can't do that. We're blind to our own time line. The only way we can see it is in front of the Untempered Schism, and that's when we're eight years old."

Rose frowned and tapped her fingers together, slightly discouraged and annoyed. Then something else came to mind that seemed rather obvious to her. "Show me how to do it, and I'll do what I was thinking with yours."

He sat up. "You think you're ready to do that? Last time you tried anything like that, there was an awful headache."

"I have a goal now." She leaned forward and grasped his hands. "This isn't about trying to play with things or learn something. I'm going to find _our_ daughter," her face was full of determination. "Even if I have to regenerate to do it."

The Doctor's head went back. The way she emphasized 'our' almost brought tears to his eyes. He hadn't known what she thought of Jenny, mostly due to hesitation and a hint of fear on his part. But that statement of pure intent, as well as the emotions behind it, proved to him just how much she meant it. Not being able to get his mouth to work right, he leaned forward and hugged her tightly. _'Thank you so much. You have no idea how much that meant to me, to hear you say that.'_

She took the hug with a smile, but couldn't help ribbing him. _'Now maybe you'll understand just how much those 'three horrid words' mean to me.'_

The Doctor laughed rather hard at that. "I do love you, you know that right?"

Rose pulled back and gave him a knowing smile. "I do, but it does me a lot of emotional good to hear you say it out loud." She grabbed his chin between her thumb and forefinger, wiggled it slightly with a playful mean look and a growl, then gave him a peck on the lips. "So, what do I do?"

* * *

 

## *Chapter 2*: The Search

* * *

**Planet Marizipan**   
**5062 AD**

The corridor was relatively dark. Cold too, as it was winter. A man in maroon medical scrubs was pushing a trolley full of concoctions that sort of resembled food. He stopped at the next door in his nightly rounds and pressed a button. The screen above it came on to show a blond woman doing push ups. Taking one of the biodegradable trays, he opened a slot in the door that was near the bottom and slid it under.

The door banged, but he didn't flinch as it was their nightly ritual. "When are you going to let me out? I didn't do anything wrong, you bastards!" the woman's voice shouted at him through the door. Instead of answering her, he resumed his rounds.

When he was out of earshot, he muttered. "Shouldn't have been born then, freak."

* * *

John had dragged himself into his room some time ago. More than anything, he wanted to be rid of the bits of sand and other things from his person. After a long and drawn out shower, he changed into his bedclothes and flopped onto his four poster bed. Thankfully, the TARDIS could block this room out from his brother and sister in law, else he'd have to bother with their mental doings. So it was a real surprise when his brother shouted his brain off not an hour after he fell asleep.

_'Help me!'_ he heard him shout.

John was so startled, that he flinched himself off the side of the bed. Getting up with a groan and rubbing his side, John was in full rant mode. _'What the bloody hell? God, I haven't had any sleep in three days. Not that I need that much, mind. But as soon as I lay down, you're shouting my head off. Hold on..._ How _are you shouting at me? I had the TARDIS..."_

The Doctor cut him off. _'Wake the bloody hell up and get to our room! Rose is in trouble!'_

John was out of his bedroom in under six seconds. It would've been less, but his forest green dressing gown and slippers were being problematic. At least, that's what he would've told anyone. He wasn't all that coordinated the first moments after waking up. Then again, who is?

Fortunately for John, the TARDIS rearranged the corridors so that their rooms weren't ten feet from each other. He came in to see Rose and his brother sitting cross legged on their bed, holding hands. While unusual in itself, their faces were twisted up in either pain... or constipation. He really wasn't sure which and he wished for some strong tea right then. "What's going on?"

"She wont let go," the Doctor grunted. "It's too much for her and she wont stop."

John was behind Rose at this point. "What do you want me to do, pull her off or get the mallet?"

"This is serious!" his brother hissed. "Trying to find Jenny's time line."

That woke him right up. Remembering when Rose tried seeing timelines of simple objects - and the migraine that resulted from it - John put his hands on either side of her head and spun himself inside her mind. _'Rose... you have to stop. You're hurting yourself and him.'_

_'I've almost... got it. Don't stop me... Please!'_ Rose's mental self was on her knees, crying. Images were flying past her head at a rapid pace. He recognized all of them, and it was a bit surreal. Almost the same as him reviewing the memories he inherited from the Doctor, but her brute force approach was more like someone with a sledgehammer.

Mirroring his physical self, John stood behind her and placed his hands on the sides of her head. _'All right. If you're going to do this, let me help. Ease up, you're pushing too hard.'_ He could tell they've been at this for a while now, because Rose was completely exhausted. Adding his strength to her own, he guided her to the memories of Messaline.

With John helping her now, Rose felt the pain lessen. She sighed with relief. _'Thanks.'_ That got an absent minded _'Mmm-hmm'_ out of him. She gasped when she saw a rather pretty woman turn away, say _'No!'_ in a panic, and step in front of a bullet. Other images came out of order then. The same woman stepped out of a machine, was handed a rifle, then said _'Hello Dad'_ ; Jenny, she realized, talking with Donna; her doing a remarkable gymnastics move through a mesh of lasers... That impressed her more than anything else, and she couldn't help but remember doing something similar when she won the bronze.

These four scenes floated before them and were repeating themselves, like telly screens without the tellies. The only thing different, was the edges being fuzzy and not all that square. They rearranged themselves in the air, in order, from left to right. _'This is Jenny,'_ John said. Four other scenes appeared below the first. They looked to be the same ones from different angles. _'These are from Donna's point of view,'_ he explained.

The Doctor's mental self appeared next to them, looking slightly bedraggled. The twins helped her stand, then held her hands from either side. Looking at all the different images, Rose suddenly saw a faint golden string that linked them all together through the representations of her step-daughter. _'I... I think I see it.'_

_'Show me,'_ she heard in stereo. Squeezing their hands, Rose pushed the image to them. _'Brilliant,'_ the Doctor said. _'Now follow it to the right.'_

Focusing on the golden string, she turned her head. The memory images slid to the left as she did so. When the line went past them, Rose flinched in pain. She felt the twins mirror each other by holding her hands with their opposite ones, then placing their now free hands to her back. With the three of them working on it, it came easier for her, but it still hurt. The first image was of Jenny waking up in front of a man and some fish like thing. _'That's a Hath,'_ John said.

They watched her steal a shuttle and brazenly dare them to tell her dad, which got a smile out of them all. The Doctor pushed harder, and flicks of images whipped past them. They slowed and pride swelled from all three of them as they saw her free slaves from a horrible person, _without_ using a gun. _'That's my girl,'_ the Doctor said.

Rose got impatient and pushed harder. She just knew she was going to pass out at any moment, and didn't want to lose this. Images ripped past them at a dizzying pace. Somehow, and she didn't know how just yet, but she could tell how much time was passing. This felt more like when she faded out on Gwen and Martha, telling them about the possibilities of the Hub getting some new medical equipment from the TARDIS. _'You're getting stronger,'_ she heard John say.

Shock ripped through her when the line abruptly ended. She yelled "No!" both mentally and aloud.

John anchored Rose, while the Doctor went backwards. The line didn't so much end, but fractured and splayed out like a badly fraying rope with all the different outcomes that could happen. Staring at it, the Doctor saw the one he needed to see, but it was difficult. _'There's a chance.'_ Pulling the end closer to them, he tried seeing where she was. Mostly, all he could find was the room where Jenny was being held, so he went backwards even further.

They saw her trying to get a family away from some soldiers. _'Well, they're Gallifranoid, at least,'_ the Doctor commented. _  
_

_'What?'_ Rose asked, confused.

_'Humanoid,'_ John explained.

Watching things in reverse, the picture froze on an above view of a city. Rose felt both of them tense up, and they both swore in the bell like language of Gallifrey. Rose flinched at the ferocity of the words, and half understood them. While John was saying a simple string of obscenities, her husband said something about a black hole.

_'Marizipan,'_ the Doctor glowered.

_'Damn them and their doctrine!'_ John bellowed.

Rose looked back and forth between them. _'Someone best explain before the slapping starts.'_

_'Racial purity,'_ John spat.

The Doctor nodded. _'They're almost as bad as the Daleks.'_

_'Tell me again why we didn't overthrow their government?'_ John asked.

His brother looked at him. _'Barusa.'_

John sighed. _'Right, right. Of course.'_

_'Looked like she was trying to get a small family off planet,'_ Rose said.

_'That part's odd,'_ the Doctor said. _'Their doctrine permeates their entire society.'_

_'Something's changed then,'_ John said.

A thought occurred to Rose. _'Are they evolving?'_

They looked at her with surprise, then at each other. _'You think?'_ John asked.

_'That would explain a lot,'_ the Doctor said.

_'Ooooh, dizzy,'_ Rose said, startling them both as she and John faded out.

"No no," John said quietly. He caught her and guided Rose down to the bed. He fetched a pillow to place under her head.

The Doctor opened his eyes. "What happened?" he asked with more than a bit of concern.

"She fainted," John said. "Poor dear is completely knackered."

The Doctor uncrossed his legs and leaned down to kiss her cheek. "Thank you," he whispered. Sitting up again, he threw his legs off the side of the bed to get up, only to be stopped by John. Somehow, he got to his side of the bed without him noticing.

"Where do you think you're going?" John asked with crossed arms.

The Doctor looked up at him with an incredulous look. "You must be joking."

John shook his head. "Not now. Both of you need sleep."

"We have to save her!" the Doctor demanded.

John thumped his forehead with a finger. "Time ship, time boy. We can go when you both are fully rested."

"How am I supposed to sleep at a time like this?" the Doctor whined.

John smiled. "Like this." He placed his fingertips on his brother's temples and gave him a mental push.

The Doctor's eyes bulged. "No..." he started to protest, before passing out.

John steered him to his pillow with a small chuckle. "You'll thank me later," he said quietly. Once they were both down, he fetched a large blanket from the cupboard and threw it over them. He watched them for a few seconds with a wry grin on his face, before turning to stumble to the door. He gave a mental thanks to the TARDIS for butting the doors of their rooms together, and he stepped from their room to his. His dressing gown hit the floor at nearly the same time he flopped on the bed. He was asleep before he hit the pillow.

The lights dimmed, and the TARDIS avatar tucked him in. "About bloody time," she clucked. "Thought we'd never get here." Once she had him all settled in, she faded and both rooms went dark.

* * *

 

## *Chapter 3*: In Dreams

* * *

Jenny woke with a start. It was dark, which was unusual. A bit chilly, which wasn't so unusual. And, the air was decidedly damp... which was _beyond_ unusual. She sat up and tried to get her bearings. This was difficult, because she couldn't see her hand in front of her face. She knew that because she actually tried it, waving her hand absurdly in the blackness.

She cautiously sat up and felt around. There was a sort of rough cloth that she was lying on, and something plantlike under it. It was dead, and rather prickly to be honest. She felt a rock like wall to her immediate left, and empty air to her right. Feeling down to the right had her understand that she was on some sort of cot. Her arms and legs felt unusual as well. There wasn't the feel of the prison clothes that she had worn when she finally went to sleep. Instead, she could feel her leather pants and short sleeved shirt that she usually favored. Her feet felt like they were wearing her boots too. Feeling out her pockets didn't amount to much, as they were empty.

Putting her legs over the edge of the bed, or cot, or hay bale... whatever it was, her feet echoed off the hard surface that they clomped on. Instead of standing, she looked around for anything that would tell her where she was. Ever so slowly, the light levels of the area rose until she could at least make out the floor and walls... then stopped. It was almost as dark as it was before, but she could see where she was now, thankfully. It inexplicably looked like the inside of a small cave, which was all the stranger.

Looking to where she sat, she found that it was a cot of sorts that had some form of dead grass as a mattress. Standing up, she turned cautiously about with all her senses on high alert. She froze briefly when she saw the entrance of the cave and the stars that were beyond it.

Treading as lightly as she could, she made her way to the opening. She froze mid-step, when she realized she could make out someone standing at the entrance. It was a curious shape, as the collar of whomever it was reached taller than their head. A voice startled her. "It's all right. You're safe here. Come on out." When she hesitated, the voice came again. "You're just as bad as he is. Come on. It's okay," she encouraged.

Tentatively, Jenny started walking again and stayed close to the opposite wall to the one that the figure was closest to. Leaning her head, she peered around so that she could at least see who was speaking to her. The person turned, and Jenny could see that it was a woman. "I don't know you. Where is this place?"

The woman smiled warmly. "I'm a friend of your father's."

Jenny's eyes grew round. "I'm dreaming. I have to be."

"You are," the lady said with a smile. "But then again, so are they," she said, inclining her head. Jenny looked out to see a single tree, then noticed two silhouettes sitting intimately close to each other at the foot of it. "Don't worry, dear. This is absolutely real."

"But I'm dreaming," she protested.

A strange, bell like giggle came from the woman. "And as I told you already, so are they. Think of this place as a long range communication centre, if that will help."

Jenny gave her a dubious and distrusting look. "All right, but who _are_ you?"

The woman startled her by taking her hand. "A friend. Nothing more, nothing less. Go now. Time's short, and while they may not realize it yet... they're waiting for you."

"Who?"

"Go and see," the woman smiled, before startling her completely by fading from sight. Jenny waved her hand through where she had been standing, but it was if she wasn't ever there at all.

Turning her head to the tree and the unknown people, she steeled herself and forced her feet forward. Jenny was halfway there when she got heavily distracted by the sky. Looking up, her mouth fell open at the sight of light blue and red swaths that crossed it. It had to be a nebula of some sort, but it was gorgeous. She could make out six very bright stars, along with a multitude of others. It was amazing.

She was still staring skyward, while her feet kept going. She turned to take in the sight. Walking backwards down the hill, she could see the mountain that she had come out of. Jenny didn't notice the tears that were now streaming down her cheeks, from the wondrous beauty that she was witnessing. Some muttering from behind her made her turn back around.

"I swear, I didn't do it this time," a woman said quietly. "I mean, how could I? I bloody passed out from looking for her."

There was a male sigh, and the voice made her stop in her tracks. "Well, I didn't do it. Remind me to beat my brother for making me sleep at a time like this."

She could scarcely believe it. "Dad?"

The silhouettes shifted suddenly, and she could see a soft golden glow of eyes coming from the woman, while a very faint blue glow came from the man's that sounded like her father. "Jenny? Jenny!" There was a rustle of clothes and a stamping of feet, then she was suddenly surrounded by strong arms that swept her up and spun her around. It felt like him... sounded like him... smelled like him. And she couldn't help but hold him tight and start crying just as hard as he was.

A few moments passed, and the female spoke up in a rather lighthearted chuckle. "Don't suffocate the poor girl, husband."

_Husband?_ Jenny thought.

She was set back on the ground, and she could see her father's face clearly. "Yes, she said husband." He hadn't let her go yet, but at least it wasn't as painful. "This is Rose... your..." he trailed off and swallowed.

Jenny felt a hand on her arm, and she turned to see a light haired woman who had tears streaking her smiling face. "I'm your mum," she said.

It was if the world just dropped out from under her. A sob escaped her, and Jenny reached out to pull Rose into a three way embrace. She couldn't do anything else, except cry... hard. Through her sobs, she heard her father say 'oh my girl, my precious girl', and the woman... her _mother_ saying 'my baby' over and over.

After a bit, she had enough control to whisper. "They're going to execute me."

"Like hell," her mum said.

Her father countered that with, "Why?"

Her fists clutched the backs of their shirts tightly. "For attempting to move 'abnormals' off planet... and..." She paused to cry a bit more, and she hung her head between them.

"What, dear?" her father prompted.

She looked up and into her father's eyes. "For... for being a 'telepathic menace to society'."

Her mum rubbed her back. "What happened?"

"I don't know!" she wailed. "One minute I'm taking the family to my ship, the next it was like a million million voices all exploded in my head. I screamed and screamed, and then someone shot me with a tranquilizer dart."

Her father held her tighter. "Oh, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault."

"How is it your fault?" her mother asked him.

Her father looked between them both. "We're a telepathic race. That's why I didn't think she was ... I couldn't feel her in my mind at the time. It must've been delayed."

"This is _not_ your fault," her mum said. "She was shot, and everyone thought she was dead... including you!"

"If I had just waited..."

"They told me," Jenny said, startling them out of their mini argument. "They said I was dead for over four hours. Thought they were going to soil themselves when I said hello," she said with a wry grin on her face.

"We're coming to get you," her father said.

Jenny looked at him with the faintest bit of hope. "Please be real," she whimpered.

"We're very real, Jenny," Rose said. "We're asleep on the TARDIS. As soon as we're up, we're going to come get you. I promise."

"Make that definite," her father... no wait. That came from behind her?

Whipping her head around, she saw a man that looked just like her father standing with a huge smile on his face. "Hello dear. I'm your uncle."

The world started to turn grey, fading. Jenny turned back around and crushed her father in a hug. "Please be real!" she cried.

_"DAD!"_

* * *

The Doctor and Rose both screamed as they shot up in their bed, shouting, "Jenny!"

John woke with a start in his bed, breathing rapidly and with tears in his eyes. "Jenny," he whispered.

* * *

 

## *Chapter 4*: The State of Things

* * *

John didn't know how he got to the console room first, but later found out that Rose had somehow managed to convince the Doctor to get cleaned up. He'd spent that time navigating the TARDIS through the vortex, towards Marizipan. Thing is, he had aimed the ship to the year prior to Jenny's arrival. The TARDIS was in orbit and scanning the planet when the other two came into the room.

They'd noticed that John was done up as an almost monochrome version of the Doctor, up to and including an actual necktie. Their thoughts intermingled with what that could possibly mean, and it frankly looked rather strange to both of them. He hates ties. Well, hate would be a bit much to say, but a strong dislike wasn't that far out there. It was weird.

They came around the jump seat and flinched at the sight of him. Well, flinch in the Doctor's case. Rose actually squeaked and stepped backwards. John's eyes were pitch black, and that included the whites of his eyes. He was completely 'calm' otherwise, but there was an aura about him that exuded barely controlled wrath.

Taking the cautious route, the Doctor spoke softly. "John... what's the matter?"

John's voice was dead calm and flat. "Rose was bang on."

"What?" Rose said, finding her voice. "How d'you mean?"

John stood up sharply, "Have a look." He indicated the monitor with his left hand and proceeded to pace around the console, then back and forth at a brisk pace. While they stepped over to see what he was talking about, John explained and still spoke in that dangerous monotone. "Incident reports of telepathic activity within the masses have risen sharply in the past decade. Those found with the gift are interred in little more than concentration camps. It's Davros and Hitler all rolled into one macabre package."

The Doctor was too stunned to speak, but his eyes now mirrored his brother's. Rose's began to glow rather dangerously. They all knew what this was, and the thought infuriated them.

"Genocide!" John spat. "Systematic denial over their species' evolution, wrapped inside their doctrine of racial purity! Their civilization is on the cusp of becoming a level nine society, and their slaughtering them by the thousands!"

The Doctor stood up with a look of utter fury. The brothers stared at each other and said the same thing at the same time. "Jenny first."

"Aren't their laws against this?" Rose asked. Surprisingly, or unnervingly, her tone of voice was rather calm. A stark contrast to the contempt that was splayed all over her face. She didn't even know Jenny, but her maternal instincts had been jumpkicked into overdrive. In all honesty, she wanted to raze the place to the ground just to find her... and she'd _enjoy_ it. A thought occurred to her that made the left corner of her mouth curl up in a wry half grin. She _finally_ understood her own mother.

"Who's the Architect in this time frame?" John asked.

A rather mad smile flitted over the Doctor. "Kuribasta."

John's smile now mirrored his. "Perfect. I like him. Want me to make the call?"

The Doctor shook his head. "Let me. Call it parental privilege."

John's head fell backwards as a joyous cackle ripped out of him. When he looked back, his eyes were almost normal. "Oh, all right. Can I at least torment the Prime Magistrate until they get here?"

"Hmm-mm," the Doctor shook his head, as he set up the call to a year in the future from their point of view in the time frame. "I need you to pilot, in case things go sideways." He made a point to willfully force himself to look normal.

John didn't like that, but nodded anyway. "At least make him wet his pants before the troops show up," he muttered.

The Doctor couldn't reply, because the monitor bleeped. A man of albino appearance and curly blond hair appeared on the screen. "Yes? Hold on, you're not my secretary! How did you get past the security barriers?"

The Doctor leaned down so the camera could get a good angle on him. "It's me."

The man would've paled, but with his stark white skin it simply wasn't possible. His eyes became rather large though. "Doctor? You've regenerated. To what do I owe this pleasure?" That he didn't stutter all over himself was a testament to his position of authority.

Rose was taking everything in stride. Even with the talks of torture and torment, she knew the brothers were just venting to keep from screaming. However, she couldn't help the little thrill from the look the Architect was giving her husband. Sometimes, the perks of being a Time Lord really did bowl her over. There was a dangerous undercurrent of emotion between the three of them, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to reign it in. She was _that_ angry.

The Doctor's voice was cold. "Under section twelve, sub-section one, sub-paragraph one, and as a Charter Signatory of the Shadow Proclamation, I hereby charge planet Marizipan of the Predu Cluster with the crime of Genocide."

Kuribasta's face was now very serious. "Send me your evidence." The Doctor typed a few keystrokes, and the screen shrank the picture of Kuribasta to one corner, while data files appeared. Kuribasta could be seen reading them. Even though the picture of him was small, his eyes could be seen flicking back and forth rapidly. As the minutes passed, his face grew more and more angry. Finally, he looked up. "We will address this matter immediately."

"You have three days to get your fleet in position," the Doctor said. "They have captured my daughter and plan to execute her. If I am unable to retrieve her and she comes to harm, I will not be held responsible for my actions."

Kuribasta flinched almost imperceptibly. "I will see you there, Doctor. You have my word."

The Doctor allowed himself to relax slightly. He closed his eyes briefly and blew out a breath. "Thank you Kuri," he said quietly.

Kuribasta nodded to him. "When this is done, can I hope for a game of Qorchess, like the old days?"

The Doctor grinned. "Maybe. We'll see what happens. If anything, we could do it by remote."

"I'll hold you to that," Kuribasta said with a genuine smile. "Missed you, old man."

The Doctor smiled, then closed the connection and looked at his brother. "I'm thinking of two things, lets see if we're on the same page."

John grinned and started round the console, flipping switches. The Doctor did the same, and Rose placed a hand on the demat lever. The Doctor looked at her when the settings were in place. "Remember the Dalek Emperor's ship?" Rose smiled wide and pulled the lever.

* * *

Jenny woke to find she was nearly strangling her pillow, she was holding it so tight. It was wet from the tears she had shed in her sleep. When she realized it was all a dream, she buried her face in the pillow to muffle the screams and sobs. She didn't want the monitoring devices to pick up on her crying, even though she knew it was a lost cause.

When she felt it, she sat bolt upright with a gasp. A fierce sense of love had washed over her like a tidal wave. It was almost primal in its intensity. Her mouth hung open when she heard a feminine voice in her head. _'Swea'hear', I told you it was real.'_

Jenny shot out of bed and stared at the ceiling for lack of anything else to look at. "Mum? That really happened?"

_'Yes it did, dear,'_ she heard her father say.

"DAD!" she shrieked with wide eyes. She turned around, looking for him in the cell. "Where are you?"

_'Stand in the middle of the room. We'll be there in five seconds,'_ she heard him say.

Jenny's feet moved before she could even think about it, and in two wobbly steps she was where he told her to be. A klaxon sounded in the hallway as wind from nowhere started spinning about her. The room gradually started to change. The stark white of the walls had an orange-like beige superimposed over it. Through it all was the strangest noise she'd ever heard. It sounded like metal being scraped or something.

Jenny turned when she heard the door to her cell open. Two guards were pointing rifles at her. As that horrid place was fading away from her, she heard them open fire. It was strange, but the orange blasts stopped as if they were hitting a force field.

There was a loud thunk, and the cell vanished completely. Turning about slowly, she was gaping at hexagons along a curved wall when she felt someone snatch her up in a hug. She heard her father yell her name in her ear, then telling someone named John to go. That strange noise started up again, and she was afraid that meant she was going back in the cell. "No! Don't leave me!"

"Never gonna happen," his voice whispered. She clumsily gripped at the cloth on her father's back and started sobbing. She felt someone hug them both, and she turned her head to see the face of the woman that claimed to be her mother.

Rose was crying. Not profusely, per say, but tears were streaking down her face. When Jenny fully materialized, the relief and joy she felt coming from the twins was palpable. She couldn't help but giggle when her husband ran over to her and picked her up. What amused her the most, was that he was spinning them both around like he did with her.

When the Doctor said 'Go John!', John's hands flew over the controls. He was laughing almost maniacally. When he threw the demat lever, he let out a resounding "Hah!"

Rose's hearts nearly leapt out of her chest when Jenny shrieked for them not to leave, and she was on the ramp with her arms around them both before she knew it. When Jenny turned to look at her from under her brow, Rose fought hard not to gasp or show any emotion at all. Jenny looked like she hadn't been fed in months. There were dark circles around her eyes, and her cheeks were sunken in.

Alarmed, Rose took a closer look at the girl. Feeling up her arms, she could tell that there was some good muscle tone still, but the amount of skin showed that it had lessened by quite a lot. Ever so gently, she placed a hand on her side and had to close her eyes when she felt Jenny's ribs very plainly. "Doctor, let up," she said quietly.

Startled out of his joyous moment, the Doctor looked at Rose with a half happy, half confused expression. The expression on her face with how she looked at Jenny made him frown, and he could feel her appalled worry. Pulling back, he looked Jenny's face and felt abject horror over the state she was in. He couldn't even form the words, but his mind shouted for all to hear. _'Infirmary, Now!'_ Jenny flinched at that and he whispered, "Sorry. We need to get you checked out, love. Okay?"

"I'll do whatever you want, just don't let me wake up," Jenny whispered back. Her voice was shaking with emotion.

The Doctor leaned to the side, and picked Jenny up in a cradle carry. "You're really here, sweetheart. I promise." He was outraged over how light she was. There was a rumble throughout the room, and the Doctor stepped from the console room to the infirmary with a single stride. John placed the TARDIS out of time in a bit of a 'parking orbit' in the vortex then followed after them, completely pissed off.

* * *

Jenny was overwhelmed with emotion. While she understood the concept of two parents and how women usually gave birth, her unique situation had her in complete disbelief of the possibility in having a proper mother. What startled her the most, was when Rose sat at the head of the bed and her father placing her in her lap. While she was far too large for a proper mother daughter cuddle, Rose had Jenny's back pressed up against her front and rested Jenny's head on her chest.

What was completely unusual, was the amount of emotion that her parents were literally radiating. Their concern over her was humbling and comforting all at the same time. Then there was that man that looked just like her father, claiming to be her uncle and radiating the same amount of concern and anger that her father was. She'd been searching for her father, and now she had a mother and uncle on top of all that? She literally didn't know what to think. Pretty soon though, she wasn't thinking at all. Her father pressed something against her neck and she fell asleep.

Rose was beside herself with worry. Knowing she was useless in the infirmary, she hopped on the bed and took Jenny into her arms to simply hold her and flood her mind with love and compassion. A side thought she had was grateful that she hadn't the time to put on her mascara. Her tears would've made a complete mess of that. Resting her left hand on Jenny's forehead and holding her around her middle with her right arm, Rose gently rocked her side to side almost imperceptively. She had her head bent down, with the side of her face against Jenny's dirty hair. She wanted to scream and shout, but held that in for her sake.

The twins were a blur in the room, scanning, measuring, and treating all at the same time. They both found it difficult to bury their anger over what had happened to her. Jenny was beyond malnourished, and she had an appalling amount of pharmaceuticals in her system. The combination of drugs were designed for Marizipan natives, and were supposed to inhibit the telepathic centers of the brain. The sheer volume of them in her system told them both that they had no idea she wasn't a native. There wasn't a telepathic center in a Gallifreyan brain unless you included the entirety of the organ.

The Doctor gave Jenny a sedative, and the twins went about devoiding her of her prison clothes. Using scissors, they removed the uniform with practiced efficiency. Seeing her emaciated state caused them both to swear profusely. Rose had to shush them, because the ferocity of their words was rousing Jenny through the sedatives.

When the scans were completed, they filled a drip bag with vitamins, minerals, and generous helpings of sucrose and protein. John had to give her the I.V. though, because the Doctor couldn't stand it anymore. He sat down in a chair next to the bed and started to openly weep. From her position, all Rose could do was run her fingers through his hair and pour love and support into his mind. John took a warming blanket and tucked it around Jenny, then quietly left the room.

* * *

## *Chapter 5*: Testimony

* * *

The TARDIS rearranged the corridors so that John had ample time to settle down before he arrived in the console room. While it helped, it didn't completely resolve his fury. Still though, twenty minutes of running to the console room had calmed him down quite a lot, if slightly sweaty.

John navigated the TARDIS forward two days, and placed it in formation with the Judoon fleet in hyperspace. He was going to call the lead ship, but the TARDIS's arrival was noticed and they called first. He opened the channel to see Kuribasta on the monitor. "Hello, Kuri."

"Doctor, were you successful in retrieving your daughter?" he asked. The look on his face made John realize that he hadn't done anything about his eyes. At this point though, he didn't care.

John nodded, but didn't correct him on his identity just yet. "Kuri, I need you, three witnesses, a legal arbiter, and video recorder to come to my ship. On top of the other charge, mistreatment of prisoners, starvation, and a slew of other atrocities need to be added to the list." John blinked and a slight flash crackled in his eyes. "Jenny is little more than a skeleton. It's taking everything in me to not turn that planet into a cinder."

Kuri nodded. "I will collect them at once." He leaned closer to the screen and asked quietly, "Will she survive?"

John closed his eyes. "I honestly don't know," he whispered. "If she doesn't, you're going to have to lock me up before I blow up their sun." He opened his eyes, and they were now only black in the iris. "Please hurry. Contact me when you're ready, and I'll transmat you aboard."

Kuri was going to grant permission for the TARDIS to dock in the main bay, but seeing the state he was in stifled that. He said, "Give me five minutes," and closed the connection.

John looked to the time rotor. "Can you handle the transmat on your own?"

_Of course, Beloved,_ the TARDIS replied. John could tell from the tone of her mind, that she was just as upset as they were.

"No Judoon are to come aboard unless they are unarmed," John said. The TARDIS rubbed his consciousness with reassurance, and he hung his head as a choked sob escaped.

_She will survive, I promise._

John wiped his eyes and sniffed back the flood that was threatening him. "Thank you," he whispered.

* * *

Now that he was somewhat collected, the TARDIS rearranged the corridors so that it was a short walk to the infirmary. The sight that he came upon yanked at his hearts.

While Rose and Jenny were in the same position, his brother had moved the chair closer to rest his head on the mattress and hold Jenny's hand. Not wanting to startle them, John spoke softly. "I moved us to the Judoon fleet, and Kuri is going to be coming aboard with recording equipment and witnesses very shortly."

The Doctor wiped his face and stood up, not letting go of Jenny's hand. When he turned to say thank you, his expression was of complete and total agony. He couldn't get the words out, and very nearly broke down. John rushed over and embraced him tightly. What little resolve he had left vanished, and the Doctor clutched his brother as he started sobbing. "My little girl... They did this to my little girl!" he let out a frustrated shout.

John kept it together for his brother's sake. "She's alive, that's what's important. We got to her in time and she'll make a complete recovery, I promise."

"How can you say that?" the Doctor balked through his shaking. "Just _look_ at her!"

John rubbed his back and did his best to shower the Doctor's mind with comfort and reassurance. "The TARDIS told me, and our old girl's one smart cookie."

A snort broke through the Doctor's sobs and he asked quietly. "Cookie?"

"What can I say, I like 'Grey's Anatomy'," John said with a smirk aimed at Rose, who grinned slightly, despite the situation.

The Doctor laughed almost hysterically and pulled back to look at him. "Donna was _such_ a bad influence on you."

John frowned playfully. "Oi, don't knock it. Lexi's adorable."

The Doctor rested his forehead against his brother's and quietly chuckled. "Thank you. I needed that."

"Anytime," John grinned. Internally though, he wished Donna was there. Out of everyone, he missed her the most and it still hurt. Plus, Jenny would've loved to have seen her.

A bleeping interrupted them. John broke their hug to go to the wall monitor and hit the switch. Kuri's face appeared. "Doctor, we're ready. Request permission to come aboard."

"How many?" John asked while wiping his face.

Kuri turned his head, then looked back. "Six in all."

"Stand by," John said. "Transmatting you directly to the infirmary." He placed his hand on the wall and thought to the ship. _'If you please, now would be a good time. Oh, and be sure to not transmat any weapons, if they have any.'_

_Please try not to worry. They're on our side,_ she said. _  
_

_'I know, but I can't help it,'_ he groused.

John addressed Kuri again. "Transmat in three, two, one."

There was a blue flash in the room. Kuri and three others of his species, two women and a male, materialized along with two Judoon. One of them immediately looked down to his hands and grumbled with his deep voice. "Architect, my weapon is gone."

Kuri looked at him with disdain. "I told you that would happen, but you wouldn't listen."

"You'll get it back when you return to your ship, I promise," John said. "There are no weapons on this ship, and there never will be. You're quite safe."

Kuri looked at John, then the Doctor, then back at John. "Why are there two of you?" he asked with more than a little confusion.

John looked to the Judoon with the video recorder and noted that it wasn't on. "Long story, and don't put that on the record. Suffice it to say that I'm the Doctor's twin brother and leave it at that, please."

Kuri wanted to ask more, but restrained himself. Seeing the state of the Doctor, he placed a hand on his shoulder. "Is it safe to rouse her?"

Rose answered for him, and surprised the twins with how controlled her voice was. She was a complete emotional wreck. "Not if we can help it, please. If you need to ask questions, ask me. If you need proof of what I'm saying, I can relay the information directly to your mind."

One of the ladies, the one in white, shook her head. "That wont be necessary, my Lady. Verbal responses from the mother or father will be sufficient if the child is under legal age."

Rose nodded and wiped her eyes with her free hand. "She may not look it, but Jenny is only eight years old." The twins were surprised and horrified at the thought of her being alone for so long, but didn't let it show. Everyone else was startled at someone so young looking so old. "What are your names?" Rose asked the entourage. "I feel silly not knowing."

The lady in white smiled. "Your testimony will be sufficient, my Lady. I am Martiella Xarannon, Arbiter for the Prosecution." She held her hand out to the other woman, who was in grey. "This is Lleyara Torstial, Assistant Prosecutorial Arbiter. And Yurikast Drastol, Official Witness," she said, indicating the male in the plain beige suit.

Rose nodded, then looked to the Judoon. "And you?"

Startled from being addressed, they looked to Kuri, who nodded at them with a small smile. The one that grumbled earlier said, "Do-ro Fu-po-ro". The one with the video recorder said, "Ko-ra Ma-ro-so." Rose could tell from the voice that the second Judoon was female.

Rose smiled at them, nodding. "Thank you all for being here. I'm Rose, the Doctor's wife and Jenny's mother." Jenny shifted in her sleep and moaned. Rose squeezed her gently and shushed in her ear. "It's all right, swee'hear'. You're safe now," she whispered, slightly rocking her again. Fresh tears dribbled down her cheeks, and she fought hard against breaking down completely. She had kept her left hand on Jenny's forehead, and was deep in her mind... reeling from what she saw.

John had the TARDIS fetch some seats for everyone. Only the Judoon and the Arbiter remained standing. Do-ro stood by the Architect and the twins, like a good little Judoon soldier goon, John noted. Ko-ra stood at the foot of the bed, recording, and Martiella stood to the side, directing the interview's questioning.

Throughout the interview, John had an arm around his brother's shoulder while they thought to each other. They had a lock on their minds so as not to distract Rose. Mostly, they were sharing their disbelief that Jenny was now eight years old and lamenting the loss of time, but a thought occurred to John which derailed his line of thought. _'Eight years old. Do you realize what this means?'_

The Doctor mentally nodded. _'I know, but we need to address her DNA first. It's a complete mess from that daft progination machine. Besides, there isn't an Untempered Schism anymore, so the point is moot.'_

John frowned. _'Okay, I realize that. Not a complete idiot over here, you know. But, there are ways around that. We can set up the shields to buffer the radiation, and simply open the door.'_

The Doctor's eyes went wide. _'Why didn't I think of that? That's brilliant!'_

_'Because you're a dumbo,'_ John said, mentally ribbing him.

The Doctor frowned. _'Stop trying to cheer me up with them here,'_ he scolded. _'Wont do to look happy right now.'_

_'Sorry. Whoops, Rose asked you a question.'_

The Doctor wiped his face again and looked up. "I'm sorry, what?"

The Arbiter put a hand up towards Rose, letting her know that she was going to repeat her question. "I asked her how you discovered the evidence of genocide." She shook her head at Ko-ra, when she was going to turn the video recorder in his direction. Ko-ra immediately turned back towards Rose and Jenny, and focused on their faces. Rose would've balked at that, given her state, but simply didn't care at that moment.

John spoke up. "We reviewed their broadcasts first. There are several informational documentaries about the so called 'hazards' of what they call 'abnormals', and what to do when one discovers them. I recorded them for your perusal."

"After, I delved into their public information network for more information about what 'abnormals' actually are. There's a literal plethora of hyperbole about the alleged dangers they pose to the general public, along with their usual doctrine of genetic purity." John paused, trying to reign his anger in.

Martiella interrupted. "And what are abnormals?"

"Telepaths," John said.

Martiella nodded, then motioned for him to continue.

"After that, we scanned their planet for what they laughingly call 'Rehabilitation Centres'. There are twenty seven across the planet. Jenny was interred in Sorial Centre, on their southernmost continent. I will admit to hacking into their computer mainframe, but that was only after we discovered that these 'Rehabilitation Centres' have disintegration chambers. Last I checked, disintegration has nothing to do with rehabilitation."

"Definitely not," the Arbiter commented quietly. Kuri held his own counsel, but the look of disgust and outrage was readily apparent on his face.

"The final damning evidence," John continued, "was when we delved into their religious database. Which, oddly enough, doubles as their governmental archive." He had to pause again, because what he was about to say was definitely going to cause his eyes to change.

Willing them down, he blew out a breath and continued. "We found a list. A record of every person that was interred in those horrid places. On that list, which is a complete account that goes back several decades I'd like to point out, are the dates that those people were summarily executed. What's worse, is that most of those dates are the same for many people. Meaning that groups of them, numbering two hundred and fifty seven, were executed on the same days. When we discovered this, we realized that Jenny had four days left to live, as they occur at regular intervals. We had to act quickly to extricate her."

John put a hand to his mouth and bent forward, stifling the urge to cry again. The Doctor, having heard this for the first time, was appalled, and rubbed his brother's back while he collected himself together. The Doctor spoke up now, letting his emotions get away from him. "On top of all that, just look at her! Look at how they treated my child! They were starving her!" Kuri, who was sitting on the other side of the Doctor, put a hand on his shoulder.

Rose spoke up next, drawing Martiella's attention. "The only food they gave her, was three ounces of gruel a day! Laced with drugs!" All the shouting caused Jenny to stir again, startling Rose. She started rocking her again. "Shhh. I'm sorry, baby. Go back to sleep." Wiping her eyes again, Rose started to softly hum a tune in her ear. Jenny visibly relaxed.

"Drugs?" the Arbiter asked, looking to the Doctor. "That wasn't in your initial report."

"We didn't discover that until after we rescued her," the Doctor said. "Jenny's bloodstream is literally swimming with pharmaceuticals designed to inhibit telepathic communication."

"We can give you the full listing of the chemicals they used," John said in the same tone of voice, so as not to arouse suspicion on the recording. "There are seventeen different chemicals and enzymes. Most of what we put in her drip, other than vitamins and minerals, are counteragents so that the drugs can be broken down in her system."

Martiella nodded, and John got up to fetch the data crystal. Handing it to her, he clutched her hand. "Please do something. Jenny's safe now, but there are literally thousands of people in those places. On top of that, there are millions of others that can no longer testify. The Marizipani are evolving to the next stage of their development, and if they keep this up there's no telling how many people will die." John paused for breath. "Telepathy is not a sin. I wish we could do more, but we're only one family."

Placing a hand on his shoulder, Martiella nodded. "We'll do everything we can." She looked to Ko-ra, and waved for her to cease recording. After the recorder was down, she looked at Jenny and kept her face relatively neutral.

The Doctor handed Kuri something that resembled a watch battery. "They surgically implant these in every inmate. They're tracking devices for the off chance that someone escapes. If you're able, I'd recommend transmatting every person with one of these to your ships before confronting the Marizipani government."

Rose looked over to Martiella. "Will we be expected to testify at the proceedings?"

Martiella shook her head. "We have everything we need. You were very detailed in your descriptions. However, in the off chance that the Arbiter for the Defense demands it, we will need to keep in contact with you. Jenny will not have to make an appearance, though."

Rose breathed a sigh of relief. She'd been dreading a drawn out court battle, and didn't want Jenny to have any part of it. "Thank you." Her face twisted up, and the Doctor shot across the room in an instant. Due to how she was supporting Jenny, all he could do was lean down and press Rose's head against his. He flooded her mind with love and support while she fell apart. If it wasn't for her respiratory bypass, she'd be shaking and disturbing Jenny. Their minds locked together, and he saw everything Rose had gleaned from his daughter's mind. It was all he could do to keep from screaming.

"If there's nothing else, I believe now would be a good time to leave them alone for a while," John said.

Martiella shook her head, and Kuri spoke up. "That is all. Martiella, I leave this to your capable hands. I want all of you to go back to the ship now. I intend to stay for a while."

Do-ro objected. "Sir, I am required to be at your side while you are off the ship."

Kuri shook his head. "These people are my friends, and I am very safe here. I commend your dedication to duty. However, there is no need in this instance."

"But sir," Do-ro tried to object again, but was cut off.

Kuri glared at him. "No. Go back to the ship. I will return in under an hour."

Do-ro came to attention with a clack of his heels, and curtly nodded.

When Kuri nodded at John, he looked up. _'If you please dear.'_ There was another blue flash in the room, leaving only Kuri from the original group. John looked at him. "I think we should retire to the kitchen for some tea." Kuri nodded, and John sent his love to the three most important people in his life at the moment, then led Kuri out of the infirmary.

_'THEY BEAT HER!'_ the Doctor roared in John's mind. _'EVERY WEEK!'_

John stumbled with a gasp, and Kuri steadied him by the shoulder. "What is it?"

Vibrating, John's eyes went completely black. "If you don't so something to solve this, I will," he growled. Kuri took a step back when John's eyes crackled blue, but held on to his shoulder. "My brother just told me that they'd beat my niece on a weekly basis."

Kuri gripped his shoulder tighter, and spoke through his teeth. "Tea now. Vengeance later."

The TARDIS closed the infirmary door and soud-proofed it, just before John screamed with rage.

* * *

 

## *Chapter 6*: Wrath

* * *

Kuri had to lead John through the corridors, as he was nearly blind from impotent fury. Like so long ago, the TARDIS led Kuri to where they needed to be by turning off all the lights except the path they needed to take. A father himself, Kuri fully understood what this twin of the Doctor had to be going through. Aiding the Doctor and this brother he never knew about seemed more than fair payment, for what the Doctor did for him.

They had met some fifteen years previous. Of course, the Doctor didn't look like he does now. Back then he was much shorter, favored wearing a hat, and had a tendency to roll his R's a lot when he was being purposely overdramatic. At least with this Doctor, either of them in fact, they didn't decorate their clothing or rain protection equipment with question marks. Well, he hoped they didn't. He hadn't seen an umbrella yet.

The crux of that first meeting was a 'minor' skirmish during a border dispute on his home planet. The Doctor had negotiated peace between the combatants. The names and places no longer mattered to Kuri. He had spent so many years trying to erase the memory of the place from his consciousness, mostly because that was where his wife and son had died. He was upset by the other lives lost of course, but their deaths devastated him.

The Doctor had spent three weeks at the negotiation table, and had developed a friendship with him. After the bombing that claimed twenty three lives at the peace conference, including his wife and son, the Doctor helped him recover by taking him aboard his ship for three months of his life. Over that time, he helped the Doctor with various adventures. That alone helped him with his career in ways that couldn't be counted, up to and including his swearing in as the Shadow Architect.

John was more than blind with rage. He was quite literally sightless at the moment. He had unconsciously volunteered to be the emotional outlet for Rose and the Doctor, both. They couldn't express themselves for fear of disturbing Jenny, so their outrage and fury combined with his - rendering him incapable of anything except babbling and shouting obscenities that the TARDIS wouldn't translate. He couldn't register Kuri's grip on his shoulders, nor the many times that he had to be forced forward.

When they entered the kitchen, abrupt silence startled Kuri. He turned to look at the brother of his friend, and was unnerved to find that he appeared to be still swearing and shouting loudly. There simply wasn't any sound coming out of his mouth now. Not wanting to let go of him for fear of him falling or otherwise hurting himself, he instead locked his arms around John's chest. "What the hell am I supposed to do now?" he muttered.

The lights dimmed slightly, and a hologram appeared in the centre of the room. "Hello Kuribasta Milyechet," she said. "It is good to have you here again. I have missed your dry wit. Please try to remain calm. I have countered John's voice through an audio filter to rest your ears."

He was about to reply when the hologram held her left arm out to the side. The dining table and chairs slid to the wall, and a rather large couch appeared. "Please sit him down before I help him, lest he fall over."

Kuri force walked him again, and then pushed hard to move John's hand from the side of his head to the back of the couch. John nearly fell into it when he felt it, curling into a ball and rocking himself. Kuri didn't know what to do with himself. The man was acting like the girl had died.

The lights dimmed to near darkness as the TARDIS solidified her avatar. She moved behind the couch where John sat, then placed her hands on either side of his head. Kuri watched in morbid fascination, as her face twisted up in obvious pain. The audio filter fell away, and the twin started violently shouting in another language unknown him. It sounded like a combination of bells, tones, and breaking glass of all things. He wasn't sure he wanted to know what he was saying, mainly because of how violent it sounded.

Her face became even more pained as she took their agonized wrath into herself. While she had done similar things for the Doctor over the centuries when he needed it, the combined near mental breakdown of her three Beloveds was almost too much for her to bear. John's ranting slowed to nothing, and he could only sit there and quietly sob into his knees.

Kuri had sat down next to him to offer simple companionable support, and he looked up when the woman took her hands away. Standing stiffly, she tried to explain. "The three of them have just personally witnessed what Jenny's been through, and it's ripping them apart. The Doctor and Rose are unable to express their outrage at the moment for her sake, and John took both of theirs into himself. I've done all I can to relieve the emotional pressure, but I can take no more and navigate hyperspace at the same time. Please assist him, Kuri." She pointed to the cupboard over the counter. "There is some medicinal tea in the green box. It should help." There was a sparking crackle and she vanished.

When the lights came up, John raised his head and apologized. "Kuri, I'm so so sorry. Please forgive me for putting you through all that. You don't deserve it."

Kuri waved his apology away with a hand. "There's no need. If that had been Diago or Naesha, I would've been the same way. They were my son and wife. Did the Doctor ever tell you about them?"

John gave a halfhearted chuckle. "Up until four months ago, we were the same person. So yes, I know."

Kuri's head went back. "Now _that's_ a story I need to hear." He stood up with a pat on John's shoulder, and went to the cupboard. "Tell me about that while I put the kettle on."

* * *

Jenny murmured when the Doctor helped Rose out from under her. "No, no," he soothed. "We're right here. Go back to sleep, my daughter. We'll still be here when you wake up."

"Promise?" she asked quietly through heavily lidded eyes.

"I swear," he said with a pained smile. Rose was up now, and had gathered some more pillows and blankets. While she was tucking them around her, Jenny turned on her side to get more comfortable. The small gasp Rose made when she saw her back made the Doctor look up at her. "What is it?" he whispered.

Rose had a hand covering her mouth, and she waved him to her side of the bio bed. Coming around, he froze next to Rose when he saw the multiple scars on Jenny's back. Most were fully healed, but a lot of them were red and swollen. There were several that were still scabbed over though. All down her spine was a large tattoo which read 'ABNORMAL' vertically. There were several dots and dashes above the translated 'A', which was her prisoner number.

The Doctor wrapped Rose in his arms when she flung herself into him. She buried her face in the left side of his chest and finally allowed herself to sob openly. He felt a lock go over his mind. _'I want them to die,'_ she said. _'I want them all to DIE! KILL THEM!'_ He flinched from the raw emotions she was broadcasting.

While they knew she was interrogated weekly for information, from what Rose could see in her mind, actually looking at _how_ that was done caused the Doctor to explode. He pulled John's mind into their lock and shouted, 'THEY BEAT HER! EVERY WEEK!' He sent a mental image of what he was seeing, and felt him come unglued.

Just as suddenly as their rage appeared, it lessened to almost nothing. Startled, they broke their hug and looked at each other with confusion. They turned their heads to the door when it closed, and then felt John's scream. Looking back to each other, the Doctor said quietly. "I think he took everything we're feeling."

"Why would he do that?" Rose asked. When her husband indicated Jenny with an inclined head and a glance, she turned to look at her and understood. "Oh we owe him, big time," she whispered.

"Let's not waste this gift," the Doctor said. "Fetch the dermal mender for me, please. I'm going to see what I can do about that damned tattoo."

While Rose was on the other side of the room, the Doctor scanned the tattoo. He found that the ink they used had mercury in it. His alarm over that caused Rose to drop the mender and search for some device he sent a picture of. She couldn't hope to pronounce its name, but retrieved it and brought it to him. Back at his side, she saw that he was giving Jenny an injection through her drip tube. Their minds were constantly locked together now, more for expediency than anything else, so she knew that the injection was more sedatives so that Jenny would sleep through what they needed to do.

Since the ink had mercury in it, the Doctor had to burn off several layers of skin to remove it. He hated having to do that to her, but it was the only way to get rid of the toxic ink without it leeching into her system any more than was necessary. For those that don't know, mercury poisoning damages the brain.

That's where the phrase 'Mad as a Hatter' comes from, because hat makers used mercury to help shape their wares back in the day. Using their own heads to shape them caused the mercury to be absorbed directly into the skin. Of course, this form of brain damage happened over time. So, the relation between mercury and madness wasn't immediately picked up on back then. However, that was a factor in their favor at the moment. While still toxic, the amount of mercury in the ink wouldn't cause that level of insanity.

Once the Doctor finished burning the tattoo off, he used the dermal mender to heal Jenny's back. It was an excruciatingly slow process, and the Doctor made a mental note to fabricate a larger version of it for more involved injuries. Every now and again, Rose patted down his forehead with a cool cloth. He didn't question it at the time, but later found that he'd been concentrating so hard that he was sweating from the effort.

They spent the better part of an hour visually going over Jenny's body, looking for anything else that needed to be done. Other than some scraped skin, he found that the four main metacarpals of Jenny's right hand had been hairline fractured at some point. Apparently, she'd been punching something on a regular basis. Rose told him that it must've been the cell door. From what she'd seen, Jenny did that every night when they fed her. That was easily remedied with a quick sweep of a bone mender.

After they did everything they could for her, they gave Jenny a sponge bath, washed her short cropped hair, and dressed her in some loose pajamas that the TARDIS provided from the wardrobe. Rose didn't want to leave her alone, so they pushed another of the bio beds flush against Jenny's, so that she could lie next to her. She was mentally exhausted, and fell asleep almost as soon as she was down.

Even though the Doctor didn't want to leave either, he had to check up on his brother. The strain of funneling their outrage had to be taking a toll on him.

* * *

## *Chapter 7*: Interludes

* * *

The Doctor was nearly to the kitchen when he had to duck back. A teacup flew through the door to shatter on the wall. He peeked in to hear John shout. "Fuck calm! I want them all to die!"

_That's what Rose said_ , The Doctor thought as he entered the room. John was standing with his back to the door, breathing heavily. Kuri had a patient look, and saw The Doctor as he came in. Kuri gave him a slight shake of the head, so he stopped in the doorway.

"You know full well that I cannot authorize such an action," Kuri said rather calmly. "Legalities aside, would you really want all the deaths of those who had nothing to do with this?"

The Doctor interrupted. "John, you can stop now." Kuri cringed at him, and John spun around at the new target for his ire.

"And you! When the hell are we going to find River, Hmm?" John's eyes were black, wild, and unfocused. "It's like you enjoy watching me suffer, you bastard!"

The Doctor recoiled from the verbal assault, but tried to reason with him. "John... Let go! Rose is asleep and Jenny's tended and sedated. You don't have to do this anymore!" He now deeply regretted sending him the image of Jenny's back.

"No. Nuh-uh. Sod it," John said, shaking his head. "You're not getting outta that. When are we going after her, eh?" John took a step towards him, and the Doctor realized that a fist fight was about to break out.

"I'm so sorry," the Doctor said, closing his eyes. With a mental yank, John's connection to him and his wife broke suddenly.

"You best be sor- Oh!" John was about to let loose some Venushian Akido and a Noble drop kick, but the snap of their mental connection hit him like a slap in the face. He wobbled slightly, right before fainting outright.

His brother caught him before he hit the floor. Kuri helped him put John on the couch. "How long has he been like this?" he asked Kuri.

"Almost since we left the infirmary, but I think the TARDIS helped a bit," Kuri said. "Logically, that had to be who that woman was, unless of course there are other people on board."

The Doctor stood up, forcibly squashing down the waves of anger that he was feeling. He blew out a breath and shook his head at Kuri. "No one here besides us. It must've been the TARDIS avatar."

Retrieving another teacup, he sat at the table with Kuri. "How much was he able to tell you?"

Kuri filled their cups. "Spoke mostly about a woman named Donna, and how he was created. I must say, that was rather handy," he smirked.

The Doctor groaned. "I can't believe you just said that."

Kuri chuckled. "Sorry. Couldn't help myself, there."

* * *

Jenny opened her eyes to see a brilliantly orange sky. "Oh." She was lying down on the same hill that she dreamed with her parents, but she didn't know that yet. Feeling an arm around her waist and a hand on her forehead, she turned and looked up to see who she was lying on. She was surprised to see that same woman, her mum. Boy, is that going to take some getting used to, or what?

"Hi there," Rose said with a smile. She let go when Jenny turned to sit up. "I realize we're dreaming, but how do you feel?" She tapped her own forehead. "You know, up here?"

Jenny thought for a bit, and could only come up with, "Different."

"Good different, bad different?" Rose said, grinning at the thought of a similar conversation while on an asteroid turned spaceship.

"Good, I think," Jenny said. "I can think a lot more clearly, so that's good. Did all of that really happen, or did I sleep through the execution?"

They were now sitting cross legged under the tree. Rose nodded. "Yeah, it happened and you're not dead. You _are_ in a bad way, but we took care of a lot of what they did to you." She frowned. "Got rid of those scars and that bloody tattoo that was on your back."

"Oh?" Jenny involuntarily hugged herself and shivered.

Rose ran a hand up and down Jenny's arm. "You really are all right now. We sedated you so you wouldn't feel it when we removed your tattoo. Had to burn it off then heal it with a dermal mender, but you're fine now. Going to have to eat a lot for a while, but I think that'd be good for you. You're rail thin."

Jenny looked around, but got distracted by her pony tail. Reaching up, she pulled it around so she could look at it. "Oh, I missed that," she said with a frown.

"They cut it, I take it?" Rose asked. When Jenny nodded, she smiled. "We can fix that easy. You're father's got this device that makes hair grow rather fast. Had to use it once on me, when my hair got all done up with sticky thickets. Ooh, that was a nightmare."

Jenny smirked. "What happened, had to cut them out?"

Rose nodded. "Yeah. Half of my head was short hair. It was ghastly. Told him to do the whole thing, so when he made it grow out again I could bleach it all in one go and have it look the same."

Jenny tilted her head. "Not a natural blond?"

Rose shook her head, then thought about it. "Wasn't, but that might be up for debate now. Haven't had to do my roots in a while, and they should be due. Had a bit of an accident, so that partial regeneration might've made me blond."

"What's that?" Jenny asked with a confused look.

"That's what happens when we die. Our bodies sort of explode, and anything that's broken gets fixed," Rose explained.

Jenny looked down at the red grass. "So that's why I woke up on that table."

"Yeah," Rose said. "But, you and I seem to be the only two to have it happen without it changing our entire appearance. Usually, hair, face, height, and even personality changes with it. With you, it just fixed that bullet wound. And with me, it made me a couple of inches taller, and maybe a natural blonde."

At that moment, a grey suited Doctor appeared some ten feet away from them. He spun about in confusion, then located Rose and Jenny sitting at the base of a tree. Rose pointed him out, and Jenny turned around. "Hello there," he said rather sheepishly.

Jenny watched him walk over and plop down next to them. She looked at Rose. "How can you tell them apart?

"I can always tell," Rose said while tapping her forehead. "But until you can, just look at what they wear. John here likes to wear greys and greens, sometimes orange. Your father on the other hand, likes wearing brown and sometimes blue."

"Yeah, and your mother likes pinks and purples," John said rather flippantly. That got an arm whapped. "What? You do."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but I doubt she'll get confused with me."

"Just saying," John said.

* * *

Kuri and the Doctor spent more time catching up than Kuri's subordinates liked, and eventually had to part company. He transmatted Kuri back, with the promise that they would come when called for the trial. Instead of waiting for the call, he had the TARDIS relay any messages that they would be sending, and found one. And of course, the defense wanted Rose to testify.

* * *

 

## *Chapter 8*: Preparations

* * *

The headquarters for the Shadow Proclamation migrated over the course of centuries. In the twenty first century, it was located on three planetoid moons that were held together by a latticework of engineering. That was where the Doctor took Donna when the Earth was stolen. Now that they were in the fifty first century, it's location was a completely terraformed moon in orbit of an azure banded gas giant named Laural, in the Orearan system, in the Mutter's Spiral, otherwise known as the Milky Way.

The moon of Laurentis serves as the tri-galactic headquarters of the Shadow Proclamation. In addition to this, any and all legal matters or disputes between planets are handled in its courts. Much like The Library, the entirety of the planet sized moon is dedicated to Law. Anything from simple criminal matters, trade negotiations, and interplanetary disputes up to and including war negotiations and reparations, all are debated and settled in the courts of Laurentis. The moon is a swarm of legal activity, and is considered the non-official capital of civilization. While it has sister worlds in the other two galaxies, Laurentis has final authority.

The legal matter that has the holovid all aflutter for the past several months has been the Marizipani government, and its alleged crime of genocide against its own people. Nightly news reports highlight the case, but the entirety of its proceedings has been made public on the secondary political news channel: BW-1138. Needless to say, the ratings for the channel have had a remarkable boost from the case. However, the calling of the Doctor's Wife to testify broke all records.

* * *

"It's gorgeous!" Rose exclaimed. She was anxious about having to wear the formal attire of the Time Lords for her court appearance, but she was simply floored when she finally saw the robes. Since she had no official Gallifreyan house, her robes were the whitest white she had ever seen. The edges, hem, and cuffs were gold embroidered in Ancient High Gallifreyan. The material of the robe was subtly patterned in a slightly off white with her namesake. They were only visible when the light hit it just right.

She had to pause though, when she saw what looked to be a separate headdress. The shoulders and high collar were equally scrolled with roses and bordered in gold. Unlike the typical Rassilon seal that were on either side of the front, hers had a mirrored long stem rose woven through each of the multilayered infinity symbols.

Her mouth hung open a bit when she realized she could read the golden script that was embroidered. Her fingers traced the letters as she read the different titles that she'd been given in her life, up to and including one that she didn't know about up until that moment. Even after she read it, she wasn't sure what it meant until she sounded it out in her head. _'Ohmigod. Is that my name in Gallifreyan?'_ Her shock turned into a sense of pleasure when she felt her husband's affirmative answer. _'Oops, didn't mean for you to hear that.'_

The Doctor was beyond pleased with her initial reaction, yet anticipated the frown that splayed across her face when she came across the close fitting skull piece. "You don't have to wear that if you don't feel like it. The TARDIS simply wanted you to have the option." Her smile at him from over her shoulder made him slightly weak in the knees. "I was hoping that you liked the robe. Personally, I don't like wearing them and avoided them like the plague. However, it would please me beyond words or thought if you would wear this both for defending our daughter, as well as our official betrothal ceremony."

Rose spun around at that, her eyes as wide as her smile. "I love it!" Then her brain caught up with what he said. "Hang on, did you just say something about an official wedding?" His sheepish look at that from their bed made an eyebrow arch. "Why wait for that? I would've thought you'd want everything to be completely legal."

The Doctor stood up from the bed, both alarmed and worried he'd ticked her off. "No, no, it is! I promise. Completely legally binding." He stepped over and put his arms around her. "I just wanted to wait till we found River before we had an actual ceremony. Didn't want to put John through _yet another_ thing he doesn't have."

Rose pursed her lips. "Hmm. There is that."

"I just thought we could do a double, him with her, and you with me."

"That'd be nice," Rose smiled and pulled him in for a quick snog.

After their kiss, the Doctor rested his forehead against hers. "He had some rather choice things to say about that, when he had all of our anger running through him. I'm not sure what to do about it, because the TARDIS is being quite stubborn in locating her."

Rose tilted her head and rested it against the side of his neck. "I've got my own suspicions on that," she said quietly.

He hugged her closer. "Such as?"

"I dunno how to put it into words," she said while fiddling with the back of his collar. "Feels like we need to save her first, _then_ go find her." She felt his muscles tense at that.

"Yeah," he sighed. "It's not that I have been consciously putting it off. I'm just afraid of it going wrong and completely buggering the timeline." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "Really don't want to have to deal with the Reapers again."

Rose shuddered, remembering how one of them actually ate him. "Yeah. No. Definitely don't want to see them again." She pulled back a bit to look at him. "Promise me something?"

"For you, anything," he smiled.

"When we're done with this," she paused and swallowed nervously, "we're gonna jump headfirst into finding a way to get River outta that, yeah?"

The Doctor closed his eyes and rested his forehead against hers again, sighing. "All right."

* * *

"Well, now. Don't you look lovely?" John said as Rose came into the console room. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone actually look good in that getup, but you pull it off rather well, love."

Rose smiled at him. She'd done her hair up with a very slight wavy curl, and it hung loose down either side of her shoulders. "Thanks. It's actually quite comfortable. Just can't slouch."

John smirked. "Yeah, those rigid collars do wonders for posture. Surprised you're not scratching yourself silly, though. Main thing I hate about them is how itchy they are."

"Tell me about it," the Doctor groused as he came into the room. He was wearing his official Time Lord regalia and had his fingers busy at his neck, scratching madly. "And what, don't I get a lovely comment?"

"You would, if you'd stop with the itchy fingers," John poked with a grin. Rose softly snorted. John tilted his head, staring. "Okay, what's with the gold? Thought you'd go with the traditional crimson of the House."

The Doctor forced his hands away from his neck, and willed the itching to cease. Surprisingly, it worked... for point four three seven seconds. Sighing, he looked at his brother. "Technically speaking, they did give me the title."

John snorted loudly. "Yeah, and you ran off when they did it. Had a vote while you were out and elected someone else."

"What's this?" Rose asked. Somehow, just being in official clothing made her accent change. She was silently amused by this, but rather enjoyed playing princess for a day.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Well to put it bluntly, you married the President."

"Ex-President," John ribbed him. The Doctor waved his hand at him to shut it.

Rose smiled. "I remember seeing that bit. You actually felt the hair on your feet go backwards when Flavia told you that, and couldn't get out of there fast enough." John laughed outright when the Doctor scowled at her. She just smiled sweetly and batted her eyelashes at him.

A bleeping at the console stole the Doctor's retort. Before John turned around to answer the call, the screen came on. John's breath was stolen from him when he heard the voice. 'Hello sweetie.' Snapping his head to the monitor, he shouted with a look of pure joy on his face. "River!"

Rose gasped and joined the twins at the monitor. She'd seen River in the Doctor's mind, but seeing her face on the monitor made her seem more real. River's eyes could be seen looking back and forth. 'Don't you two look positively precious?' she chuckled. Ignoring the Doctor's scowl, River glanced at Rose and winked. 'Hey sis. We came to watch the fun.'

"How are you?" Rose asked.

Before she could reply, John butted in. "Screw small talk, _where_ are you? We'll come get you!"

River looked at John, shaking her head and chuckling. She leaned to the side, revealing copper orange hexed roundels behind her. 'Sorry, love. Like I said, we came to watch the fun. She insisted.' John's face fell when he realized she was _already on_ the TARDIS... the _future_ TARDIS.

Jenny's beaming face rushed next to River's. All they could see of her was her blond hair done up in a pony tail, and the top part of a light yellow button up shirt. 'Hi! I was out cold when you did this, and I wanted to see it! You'll never guess...'

John or the Doctor's voice interrupted from off camera. 'What'd I tell you?'

Jenny stuck her bottom lip out, looking to her right. 'But _dad_...'

'No,' the Doctor said. His hand could be seen pulling her pouting face out of the camera. River looked to where she went and gave a chastising look.

'John, you'll find me when you least expect it. I promise," River said when she turned to face the screen again. 'And when I see you, I'm going to snog your bloody face off,' she said with a smile.

John grinned, then got confused. "Hang on, no courtship? You some stalker that's gonna rape and pillage me?" He wasn't sure if he was appalled at that or not. Mostly not... But there was that insane nag in the back of his mind, screaming his head off.

River chuckled and wagged a finger. 'Spoilers!' she sing songed. 'Doctor, I'm to tell you now that you _have_ to keep the promise you just made.' She bit her lip when she saw his eyes get big. 'You have to. Rose, see to it.'

Rose looked at her husband, and stared daggers at him when she realized that he was going to try to wriggle out of what he said earlier. She didn't let up until he looked at her, sighed, and nodded. "You better," she mumbled.

'Good. That's all this call was really for,' River said. 'Have to go now.'

John's mouth hung open. "But..."

River gave him an almost tearful look. 'I'm sorry. Love you,' she said just before the picture went dark.

John just stared at the blank screen for a second, before closing his eyes. Rose and the Doctor put a hand on either shoulder when he whispered, "Love you too."

* * *

## *Chapter 9*: Deliberations and Explanations

* * *

The Laurentian High Court chamber can house up to eight thousand souls in relative comfort. Octagonal in design, spectators and officials are seated in six sections along the matching outer walls and down, much like a stadium. The other two walls are taken up completely by the bench of the Judges, of which are thirteen. The bench itself was half as high as the furthest seating in the back rows, and arched in a crescent with the top of the arc in the middle. The entirety of the bench is protected by invisible force fields.

Three raised dais were situated in the center of the chamber, and formed the points of an equilateral triangle - of which, there's an elaborate lined design on the floor, connecting them. From their honor's point of view, the prosecutorial representatives sat on the furthest to the right, while the representatives for the defence are on the far left. Witnesses are taken to the central dais, either from a rear stair, transmat, or an underground stair in the case of the accused. A raised walking platform arcs from the defence to the prosecutorial dais and goes between the witness and the bench for questioning.

Arbiter Xarannon and her team of five were looking quite bored, which was the intent of course. The defence team's demand for Rose was intended as a legal tactic to cull the prosecution into a corner. If she didn't appear, a lot of evidence could be thrown out - up to and including the rather damning video recording. The Doctor's disregard for politics or anything having to do with official functions was rather well known, and they were counting on this.

"The Prosecution calls Lady Rose of Gallifrey to offer testimony," Arbiter Xarannon announced.

Much to the surprise of the rather rotund and ruddy complected Raxacoricofallapatorian Defence Arbitor, a transmat beam appeared, revealing a rather stunning woman in white and gold. She first looked to Martiella and smiled, then turned to him and glared.

He inhaled sharply, and then audibly swallowed as things just became _infinitely_ more complicated.

* * *

The TARDIS monitor changed from a station identification logo for channel BW-1138 to the interior of the High Court. Camera angles were in a grid, and some of the other floating cameras could be seen in their backgrounds. One of the images enlarged to take up the screen.

This image was one of the Justices. A Raxacoricofallapatorian, her skin tone was a light green and she was wearing midnight blue robes of her office. The Caption underneath her read: High Justice Jran Del-Vreesh Megret-Blon Vareen, Planet Raxacoricofallapatorius.

John and the Doctor had matching grins on their faces when they read the name on the screen. "You think?" John asked.

"Oh, I can definitely see the family resemblance," the Doctor said. "Always wondered which family Blon was fostered to," he tittered a giggle.

John shook his head in amusement. "Wonder how many generations ago that was?"

"We can ask, I guess," the Doctor said.

John chuckled. "It's a funny old world."

* * *

_'This is the forty fourth day of our continued coverage of the Marizipani trial. Arbiter Xarannon has assured the court that the mother of one of the detainees will appear, even though the defence has yet to confirm that they were able to deliver the summons. The mother, of course, being the wife of the revered or notorious Time Lord known as the Doctor, depending upon whom you ask. I must admit that I have my doubts of the validity of this, but Arbiter Xarannon isn't known for making bluffs in the court room. Oh, and it looks like she's up now. Let's see what happens.'_

_'The Prosecution calls Lady Rose of Gallifrey to offer testimony.'_ The picture changed to view the witness podium and had smaller images in the corners for the defence and prosecutorial arbiters. An atypical light gold transmat beam revealed a woman in elaborate dress, and a hushed murmur could be heard from the spectators. The image of the Defence Arbiter showed his look of wide eyed surprise.

_'I wouldn't have believed it,'_ the announcer stated rather quietly. _'Honestly, I'm not sure which disturbs me more, that she's here, or that she's the bride of...'_ Another voice cut in, _'Let's just listen, shall we?'_ Then back to the original. _'I'm not... Durnur, what does your monitor show?'_ There's a grumble and a sound of something being struck. _'Apologies, ladies and gentlemen. While I can assure you that there is nothing physically wrong with Lady Rose, it would appear that there is some sort of interference around her face, much like what happened with the recorded evidence.'_

* * *

John looked up from the monitor to his brother, who was staring back at him with a questioning look. "Well I didn't do it," John said. The Doctor shrugged, then they both looked to the time rotor. "Did you do that?" they asked at the same time.

_Yes, my Beloveds. There is no reason that anyone should know what she looks like, and I am preserving the timeline at the same time._

"Why didn't I think of that?" they muttered. Chuckling, they glanced at each other, then gave the console a pat and said "Thanks dear."

The Doctor could feel Rose's nervousness, and he bolstered her confidence. Simple thing, really, but giving her his internal support and guidance over the more fastidious complexities of galactic court was the least he could do. Plus, his own robes made it clear to her that he'd jump in if she got in over her head.

And of course, that happened within ten minutes of the defence's somewhat flustered badgering of her. "Sod it. I've had enough of this," the Doctor grumbled as he pulled the demat lever rather hard. John grinned devilishly at the reactions on the screen from the TARDIS's arrival. He crossed his arms and leaned against the railing, smirking, while his brother blew out of the TARDIS doors in a streak of gold. The TARDIS herself made her displeasure known through the loud bang that occurred when she shut her doors behind him, echoing through the chamber.

* * *

_'And what's this? Oh... Oh my... By the_ Saints _, it's the Doctor.'_ The screen changed to show a Vinvocce male in the upper corner of the screen: the announcer. _'Yes, ladies and gentlepeople, it would appear that the Doctor himself is coming to testify. I would imagine that this will generate some outrage from the defence, but as his bride said... '_

* * *

Rose glowered at the reddish Raxacoricofallapatorian Arbiter. He was doing his best to turn things around so that it appeared that it was their fault that Jenny was on the planet at all. Even up to and including child endangerment of all things. When the breeze and grinding of the TARDIS engines started up behind her, she grinned darkly at the reaction that got out of the man. "Now you've done it," she said quietly. "You've gone and evoked the Oncomming Storm. Good luck to you."

* * *

Jenny found herself on the same mountainside as before. She stood there and simply stared at the lightening of the horizon. The purples, blues, and reds of the nebula started to fade into a dark orange as the sky brightened. She didn't know what this place was, but decided that it was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen.

Someone took a hold of her left hand. Turning her head, she saw that same woman from the other dream. "Hello, dear one," the woman said.

"Who are you?" Jenny asked with a face full of confusion. "I know you said you're a friend, but... I don't understand."

Turning to face her, the woman took her other hand and smiled. "I appeared around you and took you from that awful place." While true, the cryptic answer only deepened the frown that was on Jenny's face. "I'm the ship your father pilots."

Jenny blinked. "You're an A.I.?"

The woman smiled and shook her head. "No, dear. I _am_ the ship, as alive as you are."

Oddly enough, that satisfied Jenny. Still though, that didn't mask the look of surprise on her face. "Okay. Strange as that is, I believe you. How did you find me?" She was distracted when the first rays of the sun lit up the mountainside. Looking down, she saw the trees light up in a brilliant display. She cooed at the sight. "What _is_ this place? It's so pretty."

"This is what was of your heritage." Jenny snapped her head to her with a look of surprise. "I keep the memory of it alive for my pilot - who is your father - his lifemate, his twin, and now you, precious."

Jenny's mouth hung open. "This is his home planet. The one he said was lost at the end of that war." The woman nodded. "What was its name?"

"Gallifrey," she said, "heart of the seven systems. We're standing on the mountain that House Shanfei* - the House your father came from - took its name: Mount Fei."** She turned and pointed up the mountain. "The cave where you first appeared was the one where your father was initially tutored."

Turning back to Jenny, she smiled. "As to how I found you..." A strange melody started to whisper around them, and Jenny inhaled a gasp as she recognized the music.

Swallowing, Jenny whispered. "That's the same music I kept hearing... for _months_."

The woman smiled, but her expression was sad. "I heard your scream when your mind expanded, but I couldn't be there. So I sang to you while you slept. It was the only way I could let you know that you were going to be safe."

Jenny tilted her head. "Why didn't you come sooner?"

"Your parents had to know that you still lived first." The woman looked remorseful. "I cannot go where they do not lead, even though I can send them places they didn't intend. The time for your rescue was fixed. I'm very sorry."

Looking at her bowed head, Jenny reached up and lifted her chin so she could look in her eyes. "I'm alive. Thank you," she said with a smile.

"You're welcome." Two reclined chairs appeared next to them. "Now, let's see what we can do to repair what that daft progination machine did to your biology." She motioned towards the chairs, and waited till they were both seated before she continued. "It's best to do this now, while you are unconscious. Your parents and uncle are otherwise occupied, so now will be the perfect time to make you better."

Sitting perched on her hip, Jenny looked confused. "What do I have to do?" She paused. "What's your name? I feel really ignorant not knowing."

The woman opened her mouth to speak. Instead of words though, several jingling bell tones came from her. "I know you can't pronounce that now, but you can call me TARDIS. It's an acronym for what I am, but it will suffice. Your father and I annoy one other by calling each other by our species names."

Jenny chuckled. "You sound like you're married or something."

"It's a bit deeper than that," TARDIS said with a grin. "I am a ship, and he is my pilot. We are linked together much like he and his wife are, but on a completely different level of awareness."

"Is she really my mother?" Jenny asked.

TARDIS smiled. "In a very real sense, yes. She was the one who forced me to land on Messaline, and I could tell she was the one that meddled with your father's genes to create you. You almost look just like her."

Jenny frowned. "I've never seen her before."

"Time is very fluid," TARDIS said. "She influenced me from my personal past while we were joined."

Jenny gave her a look. "I don't know how, but I actually understood that." The TARDIS giggled at that. A strange light from below got Jenny's attention. Looking down, she saw that her hands were glowing. Feeling a light buzzing at her temples startled her, and she rubbed them with her fingers. "What's going on?"

"I'm tending your genome," TARDIS said. "Just be grateful that you're asleep. It would be extremely painful if we did this while you were conscious." She reached over and took Jenny's hand. "Try not to worry or think about it. We can talk about whatever you like to pass the time."

Jenny thought for a moment, then looked up. "Tell me about my parents?"

* * *

"I protest this blatant attack on our character!" The Doctor thundered as soon as the door shut behind him. He immediately took Rose's hand, who squeezed his in gratitude as she was about to tell the man off. "We are not on trial here!" he continued. "We were summoned to confirm the testimony that was broadcast! Nothing Else!"

The head Justice nodded and struck a small bell that was next to her. "The Lead Arbiter for the Defence is out of order," her voice reverberated.

This caused Feltesh to turn around and stare at her with wide eyes. He couldn't believe what he was hearing, especially since they were the same species. "Your honor!"

She rang the bell again. "You will be seated, or excused from these proceedings. These gentle people are witnesses for the prosecution, not the defence. You have no right to question their character. Sit. Down." Feltesh held his tongue and stalked back to the Defence Podium, incensed.

Looking to the Prosecution, Justice Vareen inclined her head. "You may question the witnesses, Arbiter Xarannon.

* * *

John's attention was drawn to the ceiling by a flash of light. Looking around the 'rafters', he noticed something was missing. "Dear, what are you up to? Where's the Arch?"

_I'm taking care of Jenny's genome while she's asleep._

"What?" John shrieked, alarmed to his bones. "Why? She's too fragile for that now!" He turned to run into the corridor, only to find the door missing. "Stop!"

_Try not to worry. She is in no danger. And stop beating on the wall. You're giving me a headache. Behave, or I'll knock you out. Hmm. Maybe I should anyway so you can join in our conversation?_

_Stop Hitting Me, Metaxikalsigitismar!_

John involuntarily froze mid swing at the evoking of his name. Backing up, he glared at the ceiling. "Dirty pool, old girl. That was hardly fair."

_I'm bonded to your brother, not you. I let you pilot because of him, nothing else. Keep doing this, and I won't let you any more._

Huffing, he walked back to the jumpseat and plopped himself down with the sound of breaking glass coming from his mouth.

_Don't swear. It's beneath you. Don't distract them either with this. I promise everything will be all right._

"Better be," John grumbled.

* * *

Jenny's mouth was hanging open. "How _Awful_! I couldn't imagine losing someone like that!" She paused and looked concerned when TARDIS started holding her head in obvious pain. "What's the matter?"

"You're uncle found out what I'm doing and is causing a ruckus," she explained. "Just a moment." She closed her eyes briefly. "There. Sorted." Then she flinched. "That man has _such_ a _mouth_ on him!"

* * *

 

## *Chapter 10*: Chambers and Comfort

* * *

John was in a foul mood. The TARDIS was doing something behind their backs and he couldn't do a damned thing about it. Watching the proceedings on the monitor didn't help, because he couldn't do anything for his brother either, except wait. As of yet, no one knew of his existence except a very few, and he really didn't like that. On top of it all, the TARDIS basically told him that he was second best. While he knew that philosophically, it really hurt to hear someone else confirm it, _especially_ her.

He hated having to sit still and play back bencher. He wanted to run in, kick some arse, and make everything better. Instead, he put his feet up and leaned back in the jumpseat, prepared for a proper sulk. Not that Time Lords sulk, mind you. _Time Lords don't ever sulk,_ he thought to himself in full denial. _Oh, they get moody sometimes maybe, but sulking was childish. Don't you know that? Pithy maybe. Yes. Full of pith. Take a pith. Take the pith. Have to pith. It's all pith and shite._ He snorted to himself at his internal assault on the English Language.

Wrapped up in his own dark thoughts as he was, he didn't notice the slightly golden flicker of light from behind him. A corner of his mind thought that it was maybe Rose coming back, but another corner contradicted that from seeing her image still on the screen, holding hands with his brother and explaining what his niece went through. However, three fourths of his mind - along with his mouth - involuntarily groaned when a pair of hands rested on his shoulders and began to strongly massage the knotted muscles in his neck.

John's head fell slightly to the right with his murmur, and he heard a familiar chuckle coming from behind him. Not wanting to break the spell of those absolutely _fantastic_ magic fingers, he simply muttered quietly. "Don't laugh at me. I haven't found you yet and it's driving me insane."

A pair of lips grazed his ear. "Sorry. You just do the same thing whenever I rub your neck. You're so tense all the time."

John's eyes rolled up into his skull when he heard her voice. _Like honey._ Since she was so close, he let his head fall back onto her shoulder and found himself staring into beautiful pools of blue. "Not that I'm complaining, but I thought you all were here to 'watch the fun'?"

River smiled and kissed the tip of his nose. "When Jenny begged the Doctor to come see this, you pulled Rose and I aside and told us about this moment. Three pairs of puppy dog eyes from us girls and the Doctor folded like a stack of cards." A smirk flitted over John's face. "Was that a smile?" John shook his head, fighting the muscles in his face. "I think I saw a smile, there," she teased.

"That's so not fair," he half complained. John reached up behind him to pull River down to a kiss, which quickly turned into a proper snog. After a moment, he broke contact and whispered. "I don't care how prideful I may be in the future, but could you please just hold me? I feel like I'm coming unhinged, and I need to know everything will be all right."

River's expression cracked with worry when she saw his unshed tears. Wordlessly, she quickly shifted around the jumpseat to sit next to him and gathered him into her arms. John's forehead found the notch between her neck and shoulder, and she rocked him while he quietly and cathartically let himself fall apart.

"When?" he pleaded with a breaking voice. Being this close both helped and hurt. He was aching so deeply, that it reminded him of the memories he shared from when Rose was ripped away from his brother. Time was like the void... cruel.

"Shh," she shushed him as they rocked back and forth. "Spoilers," she whispered. River so wanted to tell him that it hurt. But, she made a promise both to herself as well as her family. All she could do was hold him and remain silent. Seeing him like this was killing her. In the end, all she could do was cry along with this past version of her husband. "It _will_ be all right. I promise."

River felt the TARDIS latch onto her mind. _I'm sorry._

"Not your fault," she whispered, and John thought she was talking to him. He responded by pulling her almost painfully tight against him. River caught the hand that was approaching her temple. "You can't," she said apologetically. "Not yet."

"I don't want to see anything," he whimpered. "I just need to _feel_ you."

River fought back a sob. "Oh, how I wish you could. But you told me it would ruin everything." Pulling his arm down and around her, she tried snuggling closer. "I'll stay until just before they come back."

Placing blocks up in her mind, she reached out to her proper husband. _"Why didn't you tell me? I can't stand seeing you like this!"_ His only response was to send her waves of love and remorse.

* * *

"Objection!" Rose had just finished her explanation of what had happened to Jenny when the Defence Arbiter bellowed. "Second hand knowledge cannot be allowed. Bring forth this woman to voice her experience personally!"

Thirteen bells chimed almost at the same time from the Justices. "Overruled," they said together. High Justice Vareen continued, "The woman that you wish to interrogate is a child, no matter her appearance." Several of the justices noticed both the Doctor and Rose's pained flinch when Vareen said 'interrogate'.

Justice Makarr, a light blue skinned individual with tribal markings on his face, stood. Looking pointedly to five of the others on the bench, they rose from their seats as well, nodding. "High Justice, we request to witness the testimony first hand."

Vareen inclined her head and lightly tapped her bell. "Granted."

Makarr looked to the witness podium. "Lord Doctor, Lady Rose, we request permission to witness the event."

The Doctor and Rose both felt slight tugs on their consciousness. Rose's eyes grew wide as she realized what they wanted. "I don't want to see it again," she whimpered. "Please! Don't make me!"

The Doctor looked down to her pleading face, and silently railed against causing her more pain. "Only once more," he said quietly. "We have to. We can purge it all when this is over, I promise." Rose furiously wiped a tear streaking down her cheek, then looked down with a slight nod.

The six justices with telepathy tapped the consciousnesses of the ones who weren't in order for the entire bench to see it together. Two others linked with the lead arbiters from either side. Then five of them looked to Makarr and opened a path to him. The Doctor pulled Makarr's attention to him instead of Rose, and allowed him access to her only through him.

The chamber fell deathly quiet when several gasps came from nearly everyone involved. Rose couldn't hold back anymore and began to sob openly. She was instantly wrapped up in her husband's arms, despite the awkwardness of the high collars they were wearing. Nearly five minutes later it was over. The breaking of the links between everyone involved caused Rose to sag slightly.

"Are we done," the Doctor asked quietly. When no answer was forthcoming, he raised his voice to thunder. "Are we done?"

Vareen wiped her face. "Does the Arbiter for the Defence have any objections to the testimony?"

Feltesh sat there mutely, stunned from the experience. Instead of answering verbally, he simply shook his head. His mind was now focused on reparations and possible sentencing scenarios. He knew the case was lost now.

Vareen looked to Xarannon. "Does the prosecution have any more questions for these witnesses?"

Xarannon stood. "No, your honor. I believe we've asked of them all that are required, and send our heartfelt apologies to Lady Rose for having to relive the experience."

"Lady Rose," Makarr spoke out of turn. She looked up at him from the Doctor's shoulder. "Forgive us for putting you through this, and we thank you." She didn't reply. Instead, she simply buried her face in the Doctor's shoulder again, shaking.

"The witnesses are excused," Vareen announced. Thirteen bells were struck again, and the Doctor took his wife back inside the TARDIS.

* * *

River's head snapped to the monitor when she heard Rose and the Doctor being excused. "It's too soon! I've got another ninety eight minutes!"

"Hide," John said as they scrambled from the jumpseat. River ducked under a floor grate that was somehow conveniently open. It closed by itself, and John gave the TARDIS a quiet thanks as he went to the door.

It opened and the Doctor was supporting Rose as they came in. John silently removed their high collars and set them on the railing. "I don't want to be here anymore," Rose whimpered.

"Go rest, both of you," John said. "I'll handle it. Jenny's fine for now. Tend to yourselves."

The Doctor squeezed his brother's shoulder in gratitude, and then led Rose out the back. Once they were out of the console room, John started up the engines and sent the TARDIS into a temporal orbit.

* * *

 

## *Chapter 11*: Causality

* * *

"This is absolutely ridiculous," River's muffled voice complained from under the grating. John opened the floor panel, and she popped her head out. " _Why_ would the Doctor say I had an hour and forty five minutes? Why didn't _you_ say something, for that matter?" she grumbled.

John looked down and shrugged. "Wibbly-Wobbly. Obviously there's something for you to do here, otherwise," he reached down and pulled her out by her hand. Once she was fully upright, he surprised her with a near violent and desperate snog.

At the start, she fell into the kiss headfirst. However, she felt a tickle in the back of her mind - a rather _familiar_ tickle - and she forced herself away. "Oh _no_ you don't, cheater," she said with a bit of a giggle. His pout just made her giggle harder. "No digging. Just _this_ once, you do _not_ have permission," she pointed at her own head with two fingers. " _Understand_?"

John swore in a crashing sound of bells shattering, and River's eyes widened as her face reddened. Noticing that she'd understood what he said - _about the testicles of a certain buried in a black hole would-be-devil, and how he'd love to crush them under his heel_ \- he actually paled. "Sorry. This is just _beyond_ frustrating." He blew out a breath. "Can't talk to a memory, but I can talk to you... just not _touch_ you. It's Maddening!" he barked.

* * *

Despite what John told them, Rose didn't want to be anywhere except the infirmary. The Doctor noticed a light flash as they came in, but he ignored that when he noticed just how much stronger Jenny's mind felt. He held his tongue though, because Rose was nearly falling over herself just to be next to the girl. While she was distracted, he snatched up a scanner. Waving it about Jenny's midsection, he mumbled. "Someone's been sneaky."

_Everyone was busy, she was unconscious, so it was the perfect time,_ their home said.

Rose looked up. "What? What happened?"

The Doctor held up his index finger for her to wait a second. Looking up to the ceiling, he began interrogating the old girl. "Why would you do that? She's been far too fragile for most anything. We only just got her stabilized, and you're busy rewriting her biology? Where the hell was John?"

An embarrassed hum filled the room. _I locked him in the console room when he found out._

Rose, having caught on to the whole thing, immediately turned back around and started checking Jenny's vitals. She was rubbish in the infirmary, but she knew a few things to look for: Pulses, temperature, and breathing. And aside from the fact that she was female, Jenny was what Rose knew to be normal for the Doctor. Still though, that didn't stop her from looking up with a scowl on her face. "That was a stupid thing to do! What would've happened if she seized?"

_Causality loop_ , their ship said rather cryptically.

"Elaborate and clarify," the Doctor demanded.

_The version of myself that is now was told by the version of myself that is soon. Soon knew that it would be alright, so now did it._

"I can't believe I understood that," Rose said rather quietly. She was both awed and royally ticked off about it at the same time.

* * *

John had left the console room in a rather large snit, with River following after him. He went straight to his room and locked it before she had a chance to get her foot in the door. Looking up, she said "A little help here please?" The TADIS hummed, and the door clicked open.

"Get out!" John shouted from a curled up ball in the middle of the bed.

River took one look at his room and gasped. Oil canvasses were all over the place. Half of them were rather splendid and embarrassing (to River) renditions of her and a quarter of them were of them both. The remainder was of a redhead: One Donna Noble. She bit her lip when she saw those, then saw him curled into the fetal position on the bed.

Her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when she saw the state he was in, and her defences slipped. Even though she was bonded to the future version of him, she could still hear his surface thoughts. They were devoid of actual speech, and were instead all focused on a song in his mind. What she heard nearly ripped her in half.

_'Loneliness be over... when will the loneliness be over... Life will flash before my eyes... So scattered and lost, I want to touch the other side... And no one thinks they are to blame... Why can't we see that when we bleed we bleed the same? I can't get it right... Get it right since I met you...'_

"You didn't... never said... oh god," she stuttered and rushed to the bed that was to be theirs. Pulling him out of his wound up ball and halfway into a sitting position, she held him from the side. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have come. I'm only making it worse!"

John couldn't say anything. Instead, he let her rock him while he drank in the scent of her skin and hair products. The smell of lilacs and a perfume that he couldn't recognize assaulted his nose, and he couldn't help but memorize them. His head went back when he felt her mind caress his. "That's so not fair," he tried to protest. It was weak though, as his mind literally craved the attention.

_Tell him,_ she heard the ship say. _Tell him before he snaps._

_'What about the timelines?'_ she asked, appalled.

_I'll take care of it,_ the TARDIS reassured her.

_'I hope you know what you're doing,'_ she said, before completely dropping all of her mental defences.

John's reaction was immediate. His head snapped up to look her in the eyes with shock written all over his face. Then a smile crept over his lips. "You... she... Brilliant!"

"Hello," River said more than a little shyly. "Miss me I take it?"

"YOU HAVE NO IDEA!" John said just before he snogged the breath out of her.

* * *

Jenny was so tired. She wanted nothing more than to stay sleeping, but there was a slight badgering of voices in her head. She recognized her father immediately, and heard that woman's voice from her dream. The sound caused her eyes to fly open, then immediately shut from the brightness of the lights. She grumbled her dissatisfaction, and the voices stopped only to be replaced by two sets of hands at each of hers.

When she opened her eyes again, she saw that the lights had been lowered. 'Hey there,' she heard her father say from her left. It took her a bit to focus, but when she did her eyelids disappeared from how wide her eyes got. "Am I dreaming again?"

"No love, you're awake," Rose said. Jenny looked at her and balked. "Hello..." she said with a wide smile. "Told you it wasn't a dream. How you feeling?"

Jenny thought about that for a minute. "Heavy, like I'm on a high grav planet or something," she grumbled. "Thirsty," she added. That got a straw put in her mouth from her dad. Her eyes rolled back slightly as she drank in the more than sweet water.

"Easy," the Doctor said, pulling the straw away. "Don't gulp the whole thing down or it'll come back up, and you won't like that." He ran his fingers through her shorn hair, affectionately. "How does your back feel?"

Jenny swallowed and licked her lips. "Fine I think. A bit numb maybe?" Her hands came up to rub at the circled indentations on either side of her forehead and grunted. "Ooh, that smarts."

The Doctor looked at Rose, and she went to a cabinet to fetch some pain medication. Bringing back two caplets, she handed them to Jenny, who swallowed them dry. "Thanks. What's with the robes?"

"We just got back from court about an hour ago," the Doctor said. "I think the politicians of that horrid planet are going to be imprisoned for what they've been doing."

"Good," Jenny said quietly. "Sorry I missed that."

Rose grinned. "You'll get a chance to see it, I promise."

There was a light tapping at the doorframe. The Doctor and Rose looked over and were shocked to see River standing there. "We need to talk."

* * *

 

## *Chapter 12*: Of Loops and Divots in Time

* * *

Rather than migrate to another room, the Doctor had the TARDIS warp in a kettle and some cups. While Rose sat on the beds that were shoved together with Jenny, The Doctor and River sat on the other side in the left over chairs from the previous visitors. River spent the time that the tea was being prepared in greeting her niece, who was shocked at yet another relative making an appearance.

After everyone had their tea poured, the Doctor looked at his future sister in law. "Start at the beginning," he prompted.

Taking a sip of tea, she had an apologetic look on her face. "Before I start, I just wanted to say sorry for decking you."

The Doctor's brow knitted together in confusion, then the light dawned on him. "It worked then?"

River nodded. "We came straight here after the Library, and this is my final part in the Library's Causality Loop. Didn't understand it at the time, but after seeing him..." She frowned and took another sip of her tea.

"What's the matter?" Jenny asked.

River glanced at Jenny and squeezed her shin, patting it. Sighing, she stared at her tea. "You have to do it now, Doctor. John's just this side of a complete mental collapse. You may not believe it, but he's been waiting for you to both approve and go ahead with what he's planned. You're the elder brother, and family hierarchy is very important to him. He sees you as the Head of the House."

The Doctor was in the middle of a sip, and the cup froze slightly at his lips. It lowered slightly. "He does?" he blinked. "He has a plan?" he tacked on rather lamely.

River frowned at him. "Thick head. What else do you think he's been doing for four and a half months, you idiot?" she snapped. "Either of you been to his room?" They shook their heads. "Might want to take a peek. He's quite the painter. There's a rather elaborate one above his mantle of the four of us, and he did it all from memory. It's breathtaking." She sighed and took another sip of her tea.

The Doctor frowned, kicking himself over missing the blatantly obvious again. Following River's example, he covered his anger at himself by sticking his nose in his teacup for a long draught.

"So, what's his plan?" Rose asked.

River shook her head. "It's better to hear it from him. I'm still getting used to all the technical details of the TARDIS, and I don't want to say it wrong." She was such a good liar that it almost unnerved her sometimes, what with how easy they came out.

The TARDIS hummed and River stood up a bit wobbly. "That's my cue." She leaned over the bed and hugged Jenny. "See you soon, dear."

Rose noticed her rickety stance, and arched a brow. "You all right?"

River gave Jenny a peck on her forehead and didn't quite look Rose in the eyes. "F-fine. Perfectly. Why?"

"You seem to be a bit unsteady there is all," Rose smirked.

River looked in her eyes finally and put a finger to her lips, blushing. "Shhh."

"Bout bloody time," Rose quietly snorted. "He's been a right pill for weeks," she said softly. They shared a smile.

Standing up, she gave the Doctor a hug. "I'll see you in... a while. Try not to have a conniption when you realize," she smirked. "Give me twenty minutes, then check on John. I should be back when I'm supposed to be by then. Oh, and it's probably a good idea not to mention this to him."

The Doctor raised his brow at her. "You lied to me. That whole bit in the Library was one big woolen cap over my eyes," he glared. "I don't like that."

River's smirk evolved into a knowing smile. "I'm always lying. I have to or the universe would fall apart," she winked at him and headed for the door.

"This family is completely mad," Jenny blurted after River left the room. "I love it!" she said a bit too loudly, which started a round of coughing. Rose snickered and patted her back when she leaned forward.

* * *

River was standing just inside the door to John's room. She was glancing in between him and the ceiling, waiting for something. _"He won't remember any of it? Then what good was it all for?"_ she practically whined.

_There will be parts that he does remember. You rubbing his shoulders and holding him in the console room, but after will be a sweet dream that he'll cling to,_ the ship explained.

"It's not fair," she whispered, wiping her eyes.

_No it isn't,_ the TARDIS conceded. _But it preserves the timeline and allows him to function. He has to, or your past will change._

"I know," she sighed. "Will he ever remember?"

_He will once you get back to when you're supposed to be._

River looked up, "So it's just a block?"

_Yes._

She ran her hands over her face as a sense of relief washed over her. "Thank you," she whispered. "I hate lying."

_It's time._

River was by the bed at this point. She leaned over and kissed John on the forehead. "Love you, mouth."

John stirred slightly and murmured, "Love you too, red."

River smiled and backed up. She gave the room one last look, and made a point to find where he hid all of these paintings once she got back to her present. She glanced at the ceiling and nodded. Then she was gone in a flash of gold.

* * *

Ten minutes passed, and there was a knock on John's door. When no answer was forthcoming from the slightly snoring man in the bed, the door opened. The Doctor came in and paused. Like River before him, he looked at all of the paintings in the room, completely astonished.

He was quiet as he stepped over to a painting of Donna. Sighing, he ran his fingertips over the painted hair. "I had no idea," he murmured. John missed her as much or more than he did, and it was something he hadn't thought about since he and Rose were pair bonded.

Straightening up, he took two steps and sat on the side of the bed. The Doctor leaned slightly and rustled John's shoulder. "Hey. Time to get up Brother."

John's snore choked off as he opened his eyes. Blinking rapidly, he focused on his brother. "Hi. Had the most wonderful dream," he smiled.

The Doctor matched his smile. "I would too with all these surrounding me. You do good work, by the way. I especially like the one over the fireplace."

John sat up and rested on his elbows, looking at the one he referred to. "Yeah. Did that one first, had..." he paused as a yawn interrupted him. "Had the idea for it the night after you and Rose finally 'talked'."

The Doctor snorted. "Did a bit more than talk that night, you know."

"Spare me," John grumbled.

Smiling, the Doctor nodded. "Fully intend to. Think it's way past time we did something about the Library. What you think?"

John looked at him with big eyes. "Don't play with me."

"I'm not," the Doctor frowned. "You said something about a plan, right? Well, let's hear it over some brecky."

John's eyebrows went up. "You're serious?" The Doctor nodded, and John shot out of bed bare arsed. "Let me get dressed, and I'll tell you both about it in the kitchen."

The Doctor put a hand over his eyes. "Now there's a sight I hoped never to see. My own backside staring at me."

"Well, turn around if it embarrasses you," John scolded as he pulled up his pants and grabbed a tee shirt.

The Doctor headed for the door. "See you in the kitchen."

* * *

John came into the kitchen to find the Doctor, Rose, and the newest member of their family sitting at the table full of the makings of a proper English breakfast. "You're awake!" He said with a smile. He went round the table and hugged Jenny from over her shoulder. "How you feeling love?"

Jenny smiled up at him. "Overwhelmed. Thought I'd eventually catch up with dad, but I had no idea about... well, everything," she said, indicating both himself and Rose.

"What's that you're drinking?" John asked, pointing at the rather large glass of something that looked like a confection rather than real food.

"Protein shake, with a dash of chocolate and vanilla," the Doctor said.

"It's not bad," Jenny said. "Bit chalky, but a damn sight better than that horrid stuff I had to eat for months," she frowned. Rose, who was sitting next to her, took her hand and squeezed. "I'm alright... mum... Wow, that's weird."

Rose smiled with a chuckle. "Yeah, tell me about it."

John sat next to his brother and started forking bits of this and that on his plate. "So what got you finally interested in going back to the Library?" He was so focused on food, that he missed the knowing looks that passed around the table, particularly the one the Doctor gave Jenny.

"I did," Jenny said, causing John to look up at her. "It's not fair that you have to sit on the sidelines and watch these two."

John smiled wide, and looked at his brother, "She's a keeper. Careful mind, or I might have to keep her to myself."

"No chance," Rose said, smirking.

"So tell us about this plot of yours to get River out of that mess," the Doctor said.

John smiled like a kid who was told he could have Christmas and Halloween at the same time. Looking up, he asked their ship, "Dear, would you mind bringing up the floorplans?"

* * *

 

## *Chapter 13*: Allonsy!

* * *

"And if he dies, I'll kill'em!" River shouted before dragging Mr. Lux from the data core terminal room. She pulled him along, and after two turns ran smack into the man they just left... sort of.

"Hi honey, I'm home," the man said with a cheeky smile.

"What the hell?" Lux said, astonished. He looked to where they came from, then back to the man they ran into. "How'd you get here so fast? How'd you change clothes that fast? What's going on?"

River turned to Lux and said, "Oh shut up!" then slapped John's shoulder. "It's about bloody time!" she yelled, before hugging him... which was a bit awkward, what with the spacesuit collar and all. "I hate lying to him... to you," she whispered.

"I know," John said just as quietly.

* * *

_A few minutes ago..._

Everyone was in the console room. Rose, John, and the Doctor were standing next to the main keyboard, while Jenny was sitting on the jumpseat. It took a lot of coaxing for them to even consider her request to be in on the action, but she was satisfied in simply watching. She leaned back and drank in what was happening, and felt more at home than she ever had before. A change of clothes helped that rather dramatically, and she liked the pastel button up shirt and jeans her mum picked out for her.

"Now that..." the Doctor said after a remarkable amount of time of keeping his gob shut - from the kitchen no less - "is simply _brilliant_. Why didn't I think of that?" He turned his stunned expression at Rose, then at his brother.

John grinned, "Because you were distracted." He flicked his eyes over at Rose briefly. "And we all know how you can get 'distracted' when you have something new to learn," he grinned cheekily.

Rose coughed, then bit her lip and looked anywhere but at the pair of them. Her face was a bright shade of pink now. "Sorry," she mumbled.

"Oh, it's not your fault," John said. "I believe it's been what, seven hundred and forty six years since..."

"Ah, yes. Well, let's not dwell on that," the Doctor interrupted, flushing a bit himself. "Everything ready?" he asked, searching out the coils of cables on the deck, pointedly ignoring Rose's flabbergasted expression.

"Just about," John replied. He turned and began typing furiously. "Timing is everything, you know."

Jenny tilted her head, "So you're just going to set up the TARDIS main computer to... _what_ exactly?"

"Bypass the neural relay," John and the Doctor said at the same time.

"Right," Jenny said. "What I don't understand, is why she went through all that in the first place. I mean if she knew... _knows_ we're coming, then why all the subterfuge?"

The Doctor turned to her and explained. "Because we can't change what happened from what I remember of it. Since I was there, the circumstances of her supposed 'demise' have to play out. It hurt me, sure, but it was one more thing that made me that much more determined to not fail in the future."

"You're tricking your _self_?" Jenny said with wide eyes.

"Exactly," he said. "Most places I go to, I can tweak this or that in order to make things turn out for the best. But, since I was there when this happened the first time, I can't change anything that I personally observed, or things will become infinitely complicated. Not to mention the whole reaper thing."

Rose sat next to Jenny on the jumpseat and put an arm around her shoulder. "Time can be damaged if you do too much to it. Since there will now be two of your father in the same place, we have to be very careful to not cause a paradox."

"Why?" Jenny asked.

Rose smiled, marveling at how much that question reminded her of just how young Jenny really was. "There are things that exist outside of time that feed on events that go wrong. Causing a paradox will allow them to come in and eat everything that caused it."

"Eat?" Jenny's eyes got even bigger, if that were possible.

Rose gave her a sympathetic smile. "Yeah, best not to think on that too much. I had nightmares for weeks after I found out about the reapers. Let's just say that we have to do this in the right order... or _else_."

Jenny's brow bunched together in confusion and crossed her arms, slouching. "If you say so."

"Don't worry," the Doctor said. "We'll have a sit down after this is over, and I'll answer anything and everything I can until you either understand, or tell me to shove off."

She frowned up at him. "I seriously doubt I'll ever try to get rid of you."

"Definitely your daughter," Rose snickered. "She's got your stubborn streak down pat."

"Yours too, remember," John said.

"Oh hush up," Rose scowled at John's back. "We ready?"

"Yep!" John stood up and went round the console, setting the coordinates. Standing next to the demat lever, he looked at them all one at a time. "Allons-y?"

"Allons-y!" the Doctor and Rose shouted with big smiles on their faces.

John pulled the lever. "Hah!"

* * *

The TARDIS materialized in the lower levels of the Library's computer core, not thirty feet from where River and the others were going to find out about Abigail. John opened the door and stuck his head out. "Right. Have to be careful. You haven't given them their ultimatum yet. You know what to do?"

"I'm on it," the Doctor said, breezing past him.

John looked back inside the TARDIS. "Okay, now Rose." Rose nodded and pulled three switches on the console. From John's perspective, the TARDIS faded out of existence. He smiled wide, then heard the others coming. He hopped forward and vanished into the TARDIS just before the Doctor, River, Anita, and Lux ran past.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Jenny said, smiling.

John tittered. "You betcha! Back in a few!" He stepped backwards and pulled the door shut after him.

"Now we wait," Rose said.

Jenny frowned. "Not my best at that."

"Mine either," Rose agreed. "But this is John's show. We just need to make sure it works."

* * *

The Doctor, having ducked into an alcove to avoid his previous self and the others, waited by the gravity platform for Lux to show up. He accessed a computer terminal, and entered some commands that were helped along by the TARDIS. Smirking, he left the countdown running while he bypassed the actual detonation into a loop, effectively halting the process while giving the appearance that everything was about to explode in their faces.

"Why oh why did I not see this at the time?" he said, shaking his head.

"You were busy," a voice said behind him.

Turning round, he saw River and a completely exasperated Mr. Lux. "Hello there."

"Three of you?" Lux shouted. "What... how?"

The Doctor gave him a disdainful look. "Time Traveler, remember? I'm cheating. Now shut it and come with me. River..." he pointed to a specific place along his jaw line. "Just there, and I'll go down like a sack of bricks."

She looked at him like he just told her to shoot someone. "I can't!"

"You did, and you will. You already apologized to me, so don't worry about it. I have to be out cold in order for this to work properly." He put a hand on her cheek and smiled. "You need to hurry," he flicked his eyes back towards the corridor she came from.

She frowned, but nodded anyway and turned to run back to the main control centre.

"So," Lux said, not sure how to take all of this. "What now?"

The Doctor took him by the arm and pulled him onto the gravity platform. "Now, we go up and tend the transmat central control matrix. Otherwise, this is all for nothing."

* * *

John had stepped back inside the TARDIS and gathered the coiled loops of cables. Standing by the door, he listened for his cue. _"You have one day."_ Almost as soon as he heard that, River ran past. Taking a quick look back at Rose and Jenny, he put a finger to his lips and went outside, leading the cables out. He heard a whap and a crumple, and he sounded out _'Eight Minutes!'_ to everyone.

* * *

 

## *Chapter 14*: Eight Minutes

* * *

"What exactly are you doing?" Lux asked, watching the Doctor wave his blue light thing over the computer console.

The Doctor spared the man a small portion of his mind to talk to him. "Well, in a roundabout way, I'm folding back the signal densities so that when the time comes, the computer mainframe... A.K.A. Charlotte Abigail Lux... can feed back the energy patterns of those four thousand and twenty three people that are stuck in the system."

"Four thousand and twenty _two_ , you mean," Lux corrected.

"I said what I said because _Donna's_ in there now!" he shouted. "You remember Donna? Red hair, loud mouth, has a drop kick that'll make you sing soprano? You saw her when the doctor moon interfered with the sonic screwdriver."

"Right... uhm... sorry," Lux mumbled.

"What was that? I didn't hear you."

"I said I was sorry!" Lux complained.

_'Eight Minutes!'_ The Doctor heard in his head. "Right. Now all I need you to do is watch this indicator. When it hits the red, punch that button and all the people will come back." He turned to leave.

Lux started after him, panicking. "Wait! Where are you going?"

The Doctor paused with a heavy sigh and turned back around. "Strackman Lux, I'm having a _very_ bad day times three. I've crossed back into my own past to make sure you and yours are safe, while at the same time I make sure me and mine are as well!" He glared at him. "Do you understand? She _died_ the first time this happened! You save them, I save her. Got it?"

Lux stepped back. "Got it, sir."

"Don't _sir_ me, just watch that indicator, right?" He didn't wait for Lux to nod before he was at a full tilt back towards the gravity platform. _I'm behind schedule,_ he thought to himself. _Damn him. Damn that man. Oh well, worked already once._ He smirked as he came into the room, soniced the platform, and dove down the shaft like he did before.

* * *

River was cradling her hand and wincing when John walked backwards into the room. "I can't believe I hit him. Eight minutes till what?"

John grinned at her. "Eight minutes till he wakes up. Nice punch, by the way. C'mon, help me set the chair up." He held up the cables he was trailing so she could see them.

"You're taking his idea, and running it through the TARDIS?" River asked, somewhat baffled. Her confusion turned into amusement when he nodded rapidly, and she started laughing. "You brilliant idiot, c'mere." She pulled him in by his collar and snogged him. "All right, you run those through to the main panel, and I'll set up a dummy loop for the headpiece."

"Exactly what I was thinking," John grinned. "Any chance this would win me some information? I mean, I am saving your life after all."

River snorted as she pulled some cables. "No chance, time-boy. You know the rules."

John tilted his head. "Worth a shot."

They spent five minutes getting everything set up, and somewhat camouflaged so that the previous Doctor wouldn't cotton on as to what happened. They were almost done when the current Doctor came skidding into the room.

"Everything all right?" he asked right before he saw his previous self on the floor. "Oooh, someone forgot something."

"What?" John and River asked at the same time.

The Doctor dug into his pockets for a bit. "Aha! These!" He pulled out a set of handcuffs. "River, do me a favor and lock my left hand up to that support beam, just there. I can't touch him."

River cackled. "So that's where they came from."

The Doctor cocked his brow at her when she said that. She nabbed them and made short work of putting his former self in a haphazard Nelson.

All three of them froze when the previous Doctor groaned and woke up, blinking. "River? What the hell are you doing?" He pulled at the cuffs. "What? Where? WHY!"

"Damn," River said, blocking his vision from the other two with her body. "Look, sweetie. I don't have time to argue about this, so let me just say..." she placed her hands on either side of the previous Doctor's head. "Shhhh..." The previous Doctor's eyes rolled back as he passed out, and River made short work of the twenty three seconds of memory that shouldn't have been there.

Turning, she saw John's feet sticking out from under the chair, and a wide eyed current Doctor staring at her. She got up, but before she could get to the chair, the Doctor met her in the middle. "You're telepathic," he whispered.

"Of course I am," she hissed. "How else do you think this works?"

"Is he out again?" John's muffled voice came from under the chair.

The Doctor turned. "Yes, now focus on what you're doing." Spinning back around, he took River by the shoulders. "How did you get past my mental defences?" he said in a hush.

"They're the same as his," she inclined her head towards John, "and I'm very good. We don't have time, and I can't explain. Now help us or get back in the TARDIS."

"You know what to say when this is on?" he asked her.

"I know _exactly_ what to say," she sighed.

Gears in seven different dimensions whirled inside the Doctor's head, and things clicked into place. Only one thing made sense now. "Noooo, you..."

River's hand covered his lips, and she gave him a warning look before putting her mouth to his ear. "You _can't_ tell him, and you have to forget that when this is over. Promise me!" she hissed in his ear.

_Try not to have a conniption when you realize,_ he heard the memory of her previous words, or what she _will say_ rather soon from her point of view. Clapping his teeth shut, he nodded and spun away from her. He looked over his shoulder at her and smiled though.

Well, he was _trying_ not to have a full on nutter with that realization. So instead, he distracted himself by joining his brother under the chair. "Almost done?" he asked him.

"Yeah," John said. "Couldn't find what I thought was here, so you're going to have a good laugh when you take a peek at this." He pointed at a single wire that went from one side to the other.

"What's that?" the Doctor asked.

John chuckled. "Remember those two connections that River plugged in when she _quote_ fried?"

Snorting, the Doctor shook his head. "If only I looked under here, I'd've known I'd been had. The thing was just a single cable in a loop?"

"I know!" John said in a rather unmanly high pitch. "Ridiculous isn't it?"

White boots started tapping to their left. "You two quite finished yet?" River asked them.

"We're done!" they said together and came out from under the chair. "Now," John said, "When the time comes, put this on your head, rattle on about spoilers, and plug these two together. Rose and the TARDIS will take care of the rest, and you'll be in there with us when this is over quick as you please."

The Doctor on the floor groaned again. Three sets of eyes looked over, then they scrambled to get River in position. John put the headpiece on her lap, while the Doctor double-checked the wiring that lead into the TARDIS. Giving River a peck on the lips, John told her 'good luck' and followed his brother out and down into the TARDIS.

Once they were inside the TARDIS, they joined Rose at the main keyboard. The Doctor hugged her, then pointed her over to the transmat controls. John hit a few keys, then drug the monitor over so they could watch.

This of course made it so Jenny couldn't see anything from the jumpseat. So she stood up and went to lean on a coral support to get a better angle on things.

_'Oh, no, no, no, no, c'mon, what're you doing? That's my job!'_

Rose whapped the Doctor on the arm when she heard that.

_'Well, I'm not allowed to have a career I suppose?'_

Jenny smirked at that.

_'Why am I... handcuffed? Why'd you even_ have _handcuffs?'_

_'Spoilers.'_

_'This is not a joke. Stop this now. This is gonna_ kill you _! I have a chance. You don't have any!'_

_'You wouldn't have a chance and neither do I!'_

_'I'm timing it for the end of the countdown.'_

The more they listened, the more it brought up bad memories. The brothers were reliving the experience of having to listen to her prattle on while raging inside. Rose winced and put a hand to her temple, feeling both the memory as well as the actual all at the same time. The Doctor noticed, and held her hand.

When the countdown got to seconds, John held his hand up. It hit zero, and John hit enter on the keyboard. When they watched the previous Doctor turn away, he yelled "NOW!"

Rose hit the final switch and there was a brilliant white flash in the room. River appeared in the jumpseat, and immediately started bawling. John rushed over to her.

The Doctor caught Rose when she bent over in pain. "I can feel it!" Rose wailed. "I can feel what he's going through! It's awful!"

Jenny stepped over quickly and kneeled next to her. "Mum?"

"Oh I'm sorry," the Doctor said. "I didn't think." He put his hands on her temples and tried to push blocks up in her mind.

Rose shook her head. "Don't. Just hold me. Don't you ever hide anything from me. I can take it. Was just a shock, is all."

"Never again!" River shouted into John's collar. "Never again, do you hear me? I _hate_ the Vashta Narada! I _hate_ them! Don't make me do that again, please!"

John just held on to her, both overjoyed and upset for her all at the same time. "I promise. Now let me get you outta that getup," he said quietly as he touched the collar release. River sagged a bit as he lifted it off and undid her suit.

Pulling it off of her revealed a purple tee, a pair of black jeans, and purple socks. He tossed the suit to the side and gathered her up. "Let's go get you a cuppa, eh?" She nodded into his shoulder. He turned to look at the others. "You all right? Rose?"

"M'fine. Take care of her," Rose said from over the Doctor's shoulder.

"I'll get us out of here once the other me leaves," the Doctor said.

John nodded and carried River out the back towards the kitchen.

* * *

Once things settled down and the TARDIS was in temporal orbit of The Library, the five of them were around the kitchen table again. While Rose was shaken up, River was a vibrating emotional wreck. She couldn't say what she was really feeling, so she simply sat in John's lap and had her eyes buried into his neck.

The mixture of joy and shell shock had them all rather quiet for some time.

"Thank you," River whispered. "Thank you for getting me out of that." She pulled back from John and looked at the others. "I didn't have the first clue as to what was going to happen, but I knew it could be a one way trip... so, thank you."

* * *

 

## *Chapter 15*: Bittersweet Farewells

* * *

River felt what her nearly complete family were trying to give her, which was emotional support, love, and comfort. However, she couldn't let it in. Her mental shields were damned good, and everyone felt it when their emotions rebounded off of them.

Rose, who was closest to her (except for John, who's lap she was sitting in), reached over and took River's hand. "Honey, why are you blocking us?"

River's eyes went wide and she stared at the Doctor accusingly, while John looked at the back of her head in confusion. He was so focused on what needed to be done in order to get her out of the Library, that he completely missed the hushed whispers of earlier between River and the Doctor.

Shrugging, the Doctor tapped his temple with an apologetic look. River knew immediately what that meant, and silently cursed the pair bond link. Hardly anything could become unnoticed, especially between Rose and the Doctor. What she didn't understand, was how Jenny found out. When she flicked her eyes over to the recovering girl, the Doctor shrugged again in complete bafflement.

Sighing, River turned her head back around and kissed John briefly. Passionately sure, but she made sure it was brief. Standing up, she moved over to the seat opposite of Rose and in between John and Jenny. "No matter how much I want you all to be able to send and receive, I cannot allow the possibility of accidental mental leakage." She looked at John. "You were very specific about that," then she looked at the Doctor. "Both of you were. The merest hint of what's in my head cannot be known to any of you just yet."

Taking a hold of Jenny's hand under the table, she sent her a simple private message without looking at her. _'Don't react, but that doesn't include you, precious. You already knew what was happening, and told me after so that I could let you know my secret.'_

A single mental image came through to Jenny. Instead of a shocked look on her face, mostly due to how much mental contact was being thrown about both now and with that poor family she tried rescuing, Jenny turned in her chair and hugged River from the side. The smile on her face was both happy and sad at the same time. _'It's all right, but why is it okay for me to know?'_

_'Because of what happens when you find me. It will make sense later, but try to get caught up on your biology,'_ River said. _'It will help me when you find me, and you can talk about this freely to the TARDIS. She already knows, but has been keeping it from your parents and uncle to preserve our personal history. I cannot go into too much detail, but if you have questions... simply talk to the ship. She has such a wonderful sense of humor, and I know for a fact that she loves you as much as everyone at this table does. Even if it took your father a while to even accept you, I can honestly say that he loves you deeply.''_

Jenny squeezed her tighter when she heard that.

_'How_ did _you find out, anyway?'_ River asked.

_'Rose... uhm... Mum shouted when Dad realized.'_

River gave a mental sigh. _'Figures. Those two are so in tune with each other it's downright spooky.'_

Jenny quietly chuckled. The others watched the silent and private conversation going on in front of them, and tried to figure out what it was about. The Doctor though, had already began compartmentalizing his memories to house what he discovered about his future sister-in-law.

Once the mental room was in place inside his mind, he threw that revelation inside it and deadlocked it. The key for it was to be when he discovered it again. Unbeknownst to him, the ship reinforced that lock and changed the key. It was now set to pop open at a very specific time.

His silent knowing smile slowly faded to abject confusion, which River saw and felt immediately relieved. Not three seconds later, Rose followed suit and was trying to figure out why it felt like she left the kettle on. The TARDIS left her mind shortly after, with Rose none the wiser.

John on the other hand, was simply pleased to know that River was there at all. He'd been nearly round the bend in a constant state of perpetual worry, that he'd developed rather noticeable creases in the corners of his eyes. Strangely enough, that slight change was what River referred to when she told the Doctor how young he looked. There were also the strange hints of lighter hair around his temples. No, they weren't grey, and don't even think of pointing that out to him.

As for Rose, she was still getting to know the person that called her 'sis' and was really looking forward to finally getting her on a more permanent basis. She never had a sister, big or little, and even though she was mostly a tomboy for most of her life, she missed simple girl talk.

A crackle of light appeared at the doorway, and everyone turned to see Jack standing there. He was dressed as he always was, but there was a slightly haunted look about him that belied the jovial smirk on his face. "Hey kids!"

While most were stunned at his appearance, Jenny cocked her head at the man. "Who're you?"

"Captain Jack Harkness," he said. And for once, nobody thought he was flirting. It was really strange. "From this point in your time, you're close to meeting me for the first time, and _No_ Doctor, you _Don't_ need to read me the riot act. I know all about Jenny from Martha."

Both brothers nodded approvingly, but Jenny looked up with a smile. "You know Martha? She was there when I was proginated."

"Course I do sweetheart. She works for me." Jack said with a genuine smile.

River looked at him. "I guess you're my ride, then?" John looked immediately alarmed at that, and River thumped his shoulder. "Not like that you git."

"No, I know that," John said, defending himself. "I just didn't think it would be this soon," his voice sounded pained.

"Sorry mouth, but the more time I'm here, the greater the chance of something going wrong," River said. "I don't want to steal the moment from you. Sometimes surprise really is the best way, and you were bouncing off the walls for weeks after," she smiled. John just cocked a brow at her.

"Yeah, you don't want to mess with that, just yet," Jack agreed.

River got up from the table and went around to hug everyone. She held on to John the longest, and whispered in his ear. "Not too terribly long now, love. I promise." John held her tighter at that. She pulled out of the hug, and took a hold of his head to plant a rather lengthy snog in his mouth. Her hands were in place to mentally block any tendrils of thought that John may have wanted to send out to her.

After a full two minutes, Jack cleared his throat. River pulled away from John fully, and chuckled at his pleasantly dazed expression. "Exactly what I wanted to hear," he murmured.

The Doctor looked at Rose. "I don't look like that, do I?"

His appalled expression caused Rose to snort a giggle and nodded her head. "It's _so_ cute." She said with a lilt to her voice. Everyone laughed at the Doctor's scandalized expression.

"Going to have to work on that," he muttered, "That's positively horrendous."

River turned to wink at Jenny, and sent her a private suggestion. _'It's going to be a bit over two months before you all find me. Keep your uncle distracted by asking him to teach you.'_

_'Teach me what?'_ she thought back.

_'Things about the ship, time, paradoxes, his native language, places they've been... anything really.'_ She turned to the Doctor with a somewhat pained look and said aloud, "Don't forget her hair. She really doesn't like it being that short." Without looking at Jenny, she sent another thought. _'Remember this above all else... When Uncle John says "Nope, we're leaving," Listen to him. That's coming up very shortly for you, and you'll have to argue with your father about it. It's okay to tell your mum and uncle about this. The TARDIS warned your uncle about it already.'_

"Okay?" Jenny said aloud with a puzzled expression.

"Just what are you telling my daughter?" the Doctor said, more curious than anything else.

Jenny covered her mouth in embarrassment. "Nothing, Dad. She's just giving me some advice."

Rose tilted her head towards River. "I thought you said no spoilers?"

River grinned mischievously. "It's not a spoiler if she told me I told her about it already."

Rose pinched the bridge of her nose. "Headache now," she complained.

"Is that a natural telepathy, or did it come from the bond?" John asked, finally catching up to the fact that she was telepathic.

"Perfectly normal for me," River said.

Jack nudged her shoulder with his. "Past time to go."

River and John both sighed at the same time with the same inflection, causing Rose to grin. Then they said the same thing at the same time, which made it even more amusing. "Oh, very well, if you must." That caused stifled snickers from the Doctor and Rose.

John and River hugged and snogged again like they did before, with her hands on his temples to deflect John's natural instincts. When they parted, she reminded him. "Soon. Bye love."

"See you when we see you," John said. He glanced at Jack. "No funny business."

"As if," Jack said with a scowling frown. He flipped open his wrist strap and River took hold of his arm. "See you in a second, see us in a while," he said with a cheeky grin. "Jenny's hopping all over the place wanting to see the Marizipani government get their due."

Jenny looked at him quizzically, then tilted her head. "Yeah, I really want to see that."

The quartet waved at them, and then Jack and River spark crackled out of their timestream. John's face fell as he sat back down. "This is bloody torture," he muttered. "No, actually I think I'd prefer the torture. Less painful, that."

Jenny stepped round the table and gave him a top down hug. "It'll be all right. At least you know she didn't die in the Library. You did well."

"He was brilliant," Rose agreed. She joined in the hugging on the opposite side, then gave him a peck on his forehead.

"Thanks," he said simply.

"I've got an idea," Jenny said brightly. "Why don't you and dad start educating me on what Time Lords do, how they talk, all that time business and etcetera and so forth?"

The Doctor beamed a smile at her. "That's an excellent suggestion. We can do that while you're convalescing. Just lollygag in the vortex till you're fit again."

Rose kissed his cheek. "I could do with a little down time, myself." She looked at Jenny. "We could be classmates! Don't know the first thing about Gallifreyan."

"That's not exactly true, Rose," the Doctor said. "There've been times when you've spoken it without realizing it."

"When?" Rose asked, completely confused. "Better yet, why didn't you tell me?"

"Thought you knew?" he said. "And it's almost always been mid coitus."

She shook her head, and then the pair of them started laughing at the absurdity of it all.

* * *

Meanwhile, during the 'day' that the Vashta Narada gave the Doctor back at The Library, a lone figure of a man appeared in the core computer room with a flash of gold. He looked up at the face of Charlotte Abigail Lux and saw she was asleep. He traced the outline of where flesh met stone very gently, then turned towards the uplink interface where the Doctor uploaded the copy of River's consciousness into the mainframe.

He pulled a different sonic screwdriver out of his leather jacket, checked the inside for the thought mail processor, then plugged it into the uplink. Feeling that he was being watched, he turned to find that she was awake. They smiled at each other. "That was nice," Abigail said. "Thank you."

The man walked back over to her. "No, love. Thank you." His voice was a deep baritone. "Not about to leave her alone in there. No matter how many friends she has, she needs me. Even if they're both copies, it doesn't matter. We cannot function without the other."

Abigail smiled wide. "I understand. They're talking now. She's so happy. She's telling me to tell you thank you. And thank you from me as well. It will be nice to have a dad that isn't artificial."

He smiled. "Thanks for letting me. I have to go now, sweetheart. Send them my love." She closed her eyes when he stroked her face. Tiptoeing up, he kissed her cheek. When he got back down, he was gone in a flash of gold just before a shadow nearly connected to his black working shoes. It dissipated when he vanished.

* * *

 

## *Chapter 16*: Epilogue

* * *

Stopping only once for milk and an abundance of prepackaged chips, the brothers made good on what Jenny (ie: _River_ ) suggested. The first lesson was a mental download of the Gallifreyan language directly into Rose and Jenny's minds. That one hurt Jenny at first, but only because she instinctively resisted it.

The brothers called it 'brainbuffing', and said that it was usually done during Gallifreyan nursery years by machines. Even though it didn't hurt Rose, it took her a bit longer to recover from so much information. The Modern Gallifreyan language was very literal and based on mathematics. She was astounded to learn that nearly every word she knew in English, had anywhere from twelve to fifty six synonyms, inflections, and subtly different meanings in Gallifreyan.

The Doctor's people were _very_ particular about relating exactly what they meant to say, so there would never be any misunderstandings. It took her a week to sort that all out. Day two of that, she threw a book at her husband and called his people anal beyond description. What was funny about that, was that she said it in her new language, which involved the "sphincter of the universe", "analytical heartless computers", and the "square root of E=MC² multiplied by πˣ and divided by zero".

If it wasn't for his respiratory bypass, John would have fainted from laughing so hard.

Jenny on the other hand, drank in the new language like a sponge. She was speaking perfect Gallifreyan by that evening. Rose didn't like that one bit, until the Doctor told her that it was always harder for an adult mind to absorb new languages. Once the initial framework of the baseline consciousness was built with a language, the tendency to think and conceptualize in that language usually overrides most everything.

What was so difficult for Rose was that there was no real proper way for her to translate simple sentences into English. And, she finally understood why the Doctor didn't completely get it when she told him forever. There were fifty six different inflections of that word, and the English version was far too vague.

Turn about is fair play though, and Rose actually taught the boys something for a change. That happened when she was finally able to speak on their level about how she repaired systems that they quite literally didn't know their ship had, which included the stasis beam and transmat. What really got their intellectual goat, was when she told them that the TARDIS _asked_ _her_ to do it.

Every day for three times a day, Jenny had those protein shakes. She eventually tired of chocolate, so the Doctor experimented and came up with a concoction involving bananas. She didn't drink anything else but that ever since. Apparently, she inherited his love of the fruit. However, she was even more obsessive over them than he was. The second week, they had to make a stop off in Villengard to resupply. One lover of the fruit was bad enough, but three of them went through the bunches almost like locusts.

It wasn't a week into their 'schooling' when everyone heard Jenny crying in her room after feeling their left bicep tear. She had been determined to get back on her regular workout schedule, but her body hadn't been up to the task. Fortunately it was easily repaired, but it was a devil with aftershocks of pain.

The third week, the boys did another brainbuff with all the different languages of Earth, Sto, and two other systems. That one didn't bother Rose so much, as even combined; there weren't as many words as Gallifreyan had in total. However, things came to a screeching halt on that 'Wednesday'.

* * *

John was sitting there in the infirmary, simply gaping at the information on the screen in front of him. He even pulled out his version of brainy specs, _which were unshaded round Lennon style glasses that almost looked like Benjamin Franklin could've worn them_ , just to see if he was going blind. Eventually, he had to get another set of eyes on this.

_'Brother?'_

_'Yes, John?'_

_'I... You... I need your help.'_

_'Where are you?'_

_'Infirmary.'_

_'You hurt? I didn't feel anything.'_

_'Not that... just... come down here, please.'_

* * *

The Doctor was worried. Something about the tone of John's mind exuded complete bafflement, astonishment, as well as the sense of his world being spun about and plopped upside down in a rubbish bin.

He found his brother muttering to himself and shaking his head about improbabilities, impossibilities, and a miasma of denials. "John? What's the matter?"

John's head snapped to him rather abruptly, as if he was startled. He stood up straight, and backed off while pointing at the screen on the main counter. "Tell me what you see."

The Doctor was understandably curious as to what pointedly threw a monkey wrench into John's mind, when he saw three TNA strands on the screen. "Are these the blood samples from last week?" John nodded at him. "Okay, so what am I looking for, exactly?"

John sighed. "Don't just look at the pretty colours, Theta Sigma," he muttered. " _Read_ them."

Alarmed over his brother using his ancient nickname, he put on his own spectacles and went over the screen with a mental fine toothed comb. Not two minutes later, he backed up with wide eyes. "Mutau?" he started, using John's equivalent to Theta. "That... That's just... _Not. Possible_." He sat in the chair and scrubbed his fingers rapidly through his hair to the point that it was even worse with the sticky uppy.

"I'm not just seeing things?" John asked, somewhat relieved.

The Doctor shook his head. "No, brother, you're not."

" _How_ is that even possible?" John said as he ran his fingers through his hair, making his stick every which way as well. "I mean, even if she were _there_..."

"It wouldn't look like this, I know," the Doctor finished.

They came to the sudden realization at the same time. Staring at each others identical expression of wide eyed shock, they said " _Noooooooooo_ ," rather quietly.

* * *

Rose and Jenny were in the kitchen, studying and nibbling when they felt the Doctor's astonishment. They looked up sharply, shared a glance at each other, then went to the infirmary after the TARDIS told them where they were. It took them two steps, since their ship maneuvered the room's entrances up against each other.

"What's wrong?" Rose asked around a bite of chip that she hadn't finished chewing yet.

The brothers just stared at them, looking back and forth between Rose and Jenny like they were watching a tennis match, or deciding how to categorize them. More than likely it was both.

"Uhh, hello?" Rose said, waving her arm about. "Talk to me. Either of you. Don't care which, just say something. You're unnerving both of us with those owl looks."

"I don't know where to begin?" The Doctor said, completely flummoxed.

John shook his head. "I need a drink." That got a nod out of the Doctor, and the four of them headed back to the kitchen. The girls were really concerned when the pair of them went directly to the liquor cupboard, instead of the kettle on the stove. Something had to be extremely wrong for both of them to want alcohol. While John would have a pint of ale every now and then, the Doctor rarely drank.

"What _is_ it? What's wrong?" Jenny asked. She didn't know how to take this at all.

"Gimme a minute," the brothers said. They each took a shot of rather potent Venusian Whiskey, then got a pint of bitter each.

After they sat down at the table, Rose was shaking her head when she realized something. "Jenny, they aren't just tongue tied. It's like their _brains've_ locked up or something."

"Exactly so," the Doctor said, staring blankly at the wall.

John followed that with, "Because it's just not possible," right before he took a long pull of his pint. The Doctor followed his example.

Rose sat next to her husband and took his hand in hers. "Can you at least say what it is that's warped your view of the universe?"

"You're Jenny's mother," John said from across the table.

Rose cracked a grin. "Yes, I know that." She still loved the maternal feelings, and enjoyed it when someone pointed it out to her.

"No," the Doctor said, turning to look into her eyes. "You are Jenny's _biological_ mother."

Rose's smile vanished as her mouth dropped open. "What?" she whispered.

"It's not just that, Rosie," John said, ironically calling her by Jack's nickname for her. "You're genetic markers as they are _now_ are what's in Jenny's genetic code."

Jenny looked at the twins as if they lost their minds. And she wasn't far off at that point. "She wasn't there though," she said, completely confused.

"I know," the brothers said.

"Then... how?" Rose asked, looking back and forth between the pair of them.

"There's only one answer," the Doctor said, "and it simply _astounds_ me to even contemplate it."

John picked up where he left off. "You saw _everything_ in the universe all at once; brought Jack back to life; destroyed the Daleks; changed your biology; and ..." his voice faded out. He took another long pull of his bitter.

"And somehow altered the progination process to include _your biomatter_ ," the Doctor said.

"That's not right," Rose said, completely shocked. "I mean... I can understand the concept, but I thought the TARDIS used the Arch to weed out the human factors that were corrupting her genetics?"

_Sorry my dear, but that is incorrect_ , the ship said.

The four of them looked up. "How so?" the brothers asked. Jenny and Rose just stared at the ceiling with wide eyes.

_The progination machine wasn't designed to handle the fourth dimensional strand of TNA code, and it was_ _completely absent_ _. The machine had the wrong template._

"So, did I...?" Rose asked.

_Yes you did._ _When we were one, y_ _ou inserted that part of her TNA and I helped you do it by showing you how. We borrowed your current TNA structure to make her more stable. Utilizing the Arch, I was able to complete the process.  
_

The boys were thunderstruck and grinning like little kids. Rose put her hands over her gaping mouth, trying not to become hysterical with laughter. Jenny made a sound that resembled mouse squeaking, and simply looked between everyone at the table as well as the ceiling. "She's my real mother?" she asked the ship.

_Yes, precious. She is. I did tell you that, if you remember dear heart.  
_

Rose lost it at this point, and peals of laughter ripped out of her rather joyously. She stood up, and pulled Jenny out of her seat so she could hug her. "I'm a proper mother!" she squealed at the same time Jenny said, "I have a real mum!"

Seeing them like that broke through both of the twin's flabbergasted shock, and they joined Rose with roars of laughter. They stood up and slapped each other on the back and stared at them, grinning like idiots. When the girls were done hugging, they turned and pulled the boys into a group hug. They were so happy with everything that their ship joined in on the hug by wrapping their minds in a mental cuddle. It was rare to have something this wonderful happen, and the TARDIS relished it.

* * *

It took them all a while to calm down, but afterwards they retired to the 'sitting room'. One wall was nothing but video screen, and it was currently going through a screensaver that reacted to the music that was coming out. It was furnished with two couches, a couple of recliners, a love seat, and a bevy of random small tables. Nothing matched, but no one ever cared.

The only two who recognized the music coming from the wall were the twins. It was a rather old ballad from their lost home, played by an Earth like symphony. Of course, the ship was generating it from memory, but still. It got them between their hearts. It was an instrumental version of a song that was sung during times of great joy.

"So... what do we do now?" Jenny asked. She was completely overwhelmed.

Rose sat next to her and they held each other close. The Doctor sat on the other side of Jenny and wrapped his arms around as much of both of them that he could, and he was giggling like an idiot he was so happy. "Nothing's really changed sweetheart," Rose said. "It's just that now I'm not a stepmother anymore. I'm your _real_ mother. I couldn't love you any more than I did before, but I am _so thrilled_ I can hardly talk!" she said with a shout. Her normal beaming smile was nothing compared to the radiance she was emitting now.

Jenny smiled wide at that. "Me too!"

Rose's smile suddenly dropped as a memory unlocked in her head, which jerked from the experience. A startled "Oh!" squeaked out of her.

"What is it?" the Doctor asked with a bit of concern, squeezing her shoulder.

Rose's smile slowly crept back in, and her tongue was between her teeth. "I remember now. That's why we didn't know when we bonded." She looked at the Doctor, who had more than confused look on his face. "The memory was locked away," she explained. "I remember seeing you alone among friends, Donna and Martha I think, extremely sad, lonely and depressed that I wasn't there. God, I hated feeling helpless. So I bumped the future TARDIS to a planet that would at least give you a piece of me. Fantastic!"

The Doctor smiled at her at first, then frowned when she glared at him. "Then you went off and left her there, because she was _quote_ dead," she said with a small growl. _'The hell were you thinking?'_ she thought to him, thoroughly annoyed.

"Yeah, that was totally my fault," the Doctor said, looking down to fiddle with the end of his tie, left handed. Jenny turned to look at him and held him a bit tighter.

Rose shook her head. "Don't misunderstand me. I forgave you, because anyone would've missed that. I just want to know what went through your mind at the time." She frowned. "I didn't get any of that when we bonded, you had it so tightly locked up and ignored."

The Doctor got up from the couch to kneel in front of the two women that meant everything to him. He took one hand of theirs in each of his, then looked in Jenny's eyes. "At first, when you came out of that machine I couldn't sense _anything_ from you. There wasn't a mental footprint, _meaning no telepathy at the time_ , and the timelines hadn't even formed around you yet. I'm very sorry I treated you so badly, Jenny. While Donna confirmed that you have two hearts, there was nothing else was that would be expected from someone of our race. _Not to mention the fact that I hate guns_ ," he frowned.

Jenny blushed, "Sorry about that. I don't think I was actually fully aware of anything, except what that daft machine imprinted in my head at the time."

"That's not your fault," she heard in triplicate. The twins and Rose looked at each other, chuckling. Rose rubbed Jenny's back and said, "It really wasn't, swee'hear'."

"No it wasn't. But anyway," the Doctor continued, "By the time you stepped in front of that bullet, I had already accepted you as my daughter. Feeling the life drain out of you very nearly broke me in half. My thinking at the time, was that you couldn't regenerate. You haven't looked into the Untempered Schism, so theoretically regeneration was impossible. I came within a hair's breadth of actually shooting Cobb in the head over it."

Rose's eyes were wide as saucers. She pulled her hand out of his and cupped his cheek. "Oh honey..."

He looked at her and blew out a breath, closing his eyes at that rather dark point in his life. "I know. _Very_ glad was I wrong that day. Truly grateful I was able to restrain myself too."

Jenny mirrored her mother and cupped the other side of his face with her hand. "It's okay. I didn't blame you then, and I don't blame you now," she said. "I thought it was a fluke or something, then raced off to try to find you when they told me you'd left. I wanted my dad."

"Now _that_... she gets from me," Rose said, chuckling. "You know, if we ever find out how to either cross the void, or send a simple superphone message through... I _have_ to be able to tell mum that she's a grandmother."

"I have an idea on that, but it may be a while," John said from the brown recliner he was lounging in.

Everyone looked at him while he finished off his beer. He sat the mug down and blinked at them. "What?"

"Spill, you idiot!" Rose chastised. "Honestly!"

"Oh! Sorry!" he said with a startled expression. "Still a bit shocked at all of this. We can do it, but we need more of us in order to do so. Now that we know you two can reproduce, we just need to wait until there are at least six Time Lords in existence. Might just be the pair of you, though. No idea if River and I can have kids or not, just yet... or if she even wants any." He frowned a bit, and made a note to ask her the next time he saw her.

"Why six?" Jenny asked.

"I'm going to hazard a guess that it has to do with how many pilots a TARDIS is supposed to have?" Rose said.

The Doctor and John both nodded.

"Can't two of us straddle?" Jenny asked.

The Doctor fielded this question. "I wish it were that easy, but no. Six are needed because: One, they need all of their concentration on one aspect of the ship. And two, six people are needed to twist time in such a way as to create a corridor between universal dimensions without harming either of them." He looked at Rose in apology. "S'why I couldn't come get you." She pulled him in for a small kiss, and they rested their foreheads together.

"It's not all that hard, really," John added. "Once you know the correct block transfer equations, it's extremely simple."

The Doctor pulled away from Rose and shook his head. "Even then, we'd need a power source to be able to function in a different universe. Without the Eye of Harmony, that puts us at a rather _severe_ disadvantage."

John grunted. "Sorry, still in shock over here. Didn't think of that on the off."

"What's my grandmother like?" Jenny asked.

"SCARY!" the brothers said together, wide eyed.

Rose leaned her head back and howled with laughter. "Hah-Haaaa! Two grown men, _Time Lords_ even, afraid of my _human_ mother! I'll never get over that!" she giggled while they scowled at her.

"Why is she so scary?" Jenny asked in confusion.

"She can slap your teeth out," John said, and the Doctor nodded his head rapidly in agreement. Jenny snickered.

Rose wiped her eyes from laughing so hard. "You do know she's mellowed quite a lot, don't you? My little brother Tony did her a world of good." She looked at Jenny. "He's your other uncle, and maybe twelve by now. Then there's Pete, your grandfather. I think she was so uptight all those years from not getting any."

The boys visibly shuddered. "Thank you _Ever_ so much for that visual there, Tyler," John said, scowling.

"I agree," the Doctor said, wincing. " _Please_ don't do that again."

"Get what?" Jenny asked.

Rose snickered and whispered in her ear. Jenny's eyes popped open. "Oh! Wait... what's wrong with that?"

"They just don't like thinking of her in that way, baby," Rose said.

"That doesn't make a lick of sense! How _else_ would you have gotten here?" Jenny said to her. "Then if she hadn't, I wouldn't be here either," she said to her father. "Can you relax enough to realize that without her, you two would be without us?"

John's head tilted to the left, while the Doctor's did the opposite, mirroring him and looking at each other. "She has a rather valid point, your girl," John said with a slight pout.

The Doctor nodded. "Yeah, okay. That's a whopping good point," he conceded.

John abruptly changed the subject. "Lunch anyone? I'm feeling a bit peckish."

Rose snorted.

* * *

Things settled down after that realization on all their parts, and they resumed their schedule of schooling. The fourth week was a bit more in depth with temporal mechanics, as well as piloting the TARDIS. Luckily, since none of them needed more than three hours of sleep every four days, they burned through that rather quickly.

The more they learned about time and the ship, the more the girls understood what each sound of the ship represented. Also, the affinity with their home became much more intense and personal to each of them. They loved that as much as the TARDIS did.

* * *

The 'Monday' of the fifth week was the day that Jenny was to become an "official" Time Lord. Even though she had plenty to learn still, the fact was... She was eight years old, and the proper age for the experience. John's suggestion a little over a month ago came to fruition that day.

Using the extrapolator shielding, they were able to buffer out the extremely harmful radiation that was to come through the main entrance of the TARDIS. With her mother and father on one side holding the left door, and her uncle doing the same on the right, she suddenly felt very nervous about what she was going to see.

They had explained the how's and why's of this ritual, as pertaining to genetics and knowledge, but she was aware of things even more so than the average loomed child on Gallifrey. Three warming feelings of love and support washed over her from her family, and she smiled when she relaxed. "Thanks."

When she nodded, they opened the doors.

Even though they were giving her mental support and tonnes of love, the brothers were worried sick over what she may see about her own future. Would she be inspired? Would she run away? Or... and most disturbing of all... Would she go mad? They weren't so secret in their hopes that it wasn't the last, unfortunately, but her military origin made them think that it might go that way. Most, if not all of the warriors of Gallifrey were the ones that went slightly mad when they looked.

_'She's not running,'_ Rose thought to the two of them, but neither of them replied they were so worried. Rose held on to the Doctor and squeezed him tightly.

Those few minutes felt like hours to Rose and the twins, as they watched her slowly blinking at what she was seeing. Ever so gently, a smile started to form on her face. She saw her future and felt entirely blessed. Her happiness shone out of her through the radiant smile that she had, and the brothers were completely stunned at what they saw. Rose on the other hand, simply matched her daughter's smile.

Jenny was inspired.


End file.
